Salcedo, San Diego bag gold medals; Filipino bets 3rd overall
TARAKAN, Indonesia—Richelieu Salcedo and Marie Antoinette San Diego ruled the boys 20-under and girls 12-under categories at the close of the 12th Asean + standard age-group chess championships at the Indoor Telaga Kramat Stadium Saturday.
Salcedo, a mainstay of the multititled Far Eastern University chess team, settled for a draw with Nguyen Duc Viet of Vietnam in the ninth and final round to bag the gold medal with 6.5 points on five wins, three draws and one loss.
The pride of Misamis Oriental, who finished third in the National Juniors chess championship held in Davao City last month, posted back-to-back victories over Satibi Mohamad of Indonesia and IM Ton That Nhu Tung of Vietnam in the seventh and eighth rounds last Friday.
Salcedo also earned his International Master title outright.
Reigning national junior champion Mari Joseph Turqueza dumped Huyn Lam Bin of Vietnam to share second to third places with Satibi Mohamad of Indonesia with six points.
Turqueza, however, settled for third place due to lower tiebreak score.
Another Filipino campaigner, Lennon Hart Salgados finished in a tie for fourth to seventh places with 5.5 points.
Sharing the limelight was San Diego, who clinched the gold medal in the girls 12 years old-and-under division with a final-round draw against top seed Puteri Azhar of Malaysia.
The 12-year-old pride of Dasmariñas, Cavite, who rose to prominence by winning one gold and one silver medal in theAsean Primary Schools Sports Olympiad held in Jakarta last year, earlier won over second seed Nguyen Thi Minh of Vietnam in the seventh round then drew with Ummi Fisabillilih of Indonesia.
San Diego, seeded only 24th in the 28-player field, finished with 7.5 points on six wins and three draws and earned an outright WFM title.
San Diego finished 1.5 points ahead of compatriot Samantha Glo Revita, Nguyen Thi Minh of Vietnam, and Fisabililah.
The Rosales, Pangasinan-based Revita shocked WFM Dita Karenza of Indonesia in the seventh round and drew with Hazimi Indira Nuryam of Indonesia in the eighth and Ummi in the final round to secure the silver medal.
Other contributors to the Philippine campaign were Shania Mae Mendoza, silver medalist in the girls 14-under category; Janelle Mae Frayna, bronze medalist in the girls 16-under; Dennis Gutierrez III, bronze medalist in the boys 8-under and Irish Yngayo, bronze medalist in the girls 8-under.
Overall, the Philippines landed third behind Vietnam and Indonesia.
The Filipinos, sent here by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, finished with 17 golds, 19 silvers and 25 bronzes.
Vietnam posted a 51-21-29 tally while Indonesia notched a 17-25-22 output.
