By MANNY BENITEZ
TODAY Chess Columnist
International Master Mark Paragua battled the under-18 boys’ leader, Ferenc Berkes of Hungary, to a draw with White to end up in a tie for third to fifth with 8.0 points at the World Youth Chess Championships in Greece on Sunday.
It was not known, however, whether the Philippines’ national junior champion won a medal as in the tiebreak he would have landed only the fifth berth.
The rest of the seven Filipino youngsters sent to the Greek city of Heraklio in Crete -- five boys and two girls -- finished with a 50 percent or below performance record.
Three of them -- National Master Roderick Nava in the under-18 boys, Cheradee Chardine Camacho in the under-10 girls and Aices Salvador in the under-12 girls -- won their final games while the three others -- Loren Brigham Laceste in the under-10 boys, Nelson Mariano III in the under-12 and Vic Neil Villanueva in the under-14 -- lost theirs.
With 5.5 points, Nava tied for 39th to 50th among 86 participants, Camacho had 4.5 points to tie for 49th to 54th among 86, and Salvador had 6.0 to tie for 26th to 40th among 84.
On the other hand, Brigham had 5.5 points to tie for 46th to 63rd among 107, Mariano had 5.5 to tie for 49th to 66th among 117, and Villanueva had 5.5 to tie for 42nd to 57th among 99.
With 802 boys and girls from 17 countries participating in the five age groups (10, 12, 14, 16, 18), most of the top prizes went to East European youngsters.
Only two Asians -- 12-year-old girl Tan Zhongyi and 10-year-old boy Ding Liren, both of China -- won the gold and only two, 14-year-old boy G. Rohit of India and M. Hejazi Pour of Iran, won the silver.
The age-group winners:
Under-10 boys (107 players): 1-2. Eltaj Safarli of Hungary and Ding Liren of China, 9.5; 3. Sanas Suginoc of Russia, 9.0.
Under-12 boys (117 players): 1-2. Ian Nepomniachtchis of Russia and Magnus Carlsen of Norway, 9.0; 3-4 David Howell of England and Dmitri Andreikine of Russia, 8.5; 4-8. Nguyen Ngoc Truong and Le Quong Liem of Vietnam, Wei Chenpang of China and Ildar Kariullin of Russia, 8.0.
Under-14 boys (99 players): Luka Lenic of Slovenia, 9.0; 2. G. Rohit of India, 8.5; 3-5. Davit Johua of Georgia, Markus Ragga of Austria and Salvino Barcys of Lithuania, 8.0.
Under-16 boys (90 players): 1-2. Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia and Leonid Gerzhoy of Israel, 8.5; 3-7. Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland, Davorin Kuljaseria of Croatia, Antonon Filippov of Uzbekistan, Viktor Ardos of Hungary and Aaron Pivan of the USA, 8.0.
Under-18 boys (86 players): 1-2. Ferenc Berkes of Hungary and Shahriyar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan, 9.0; 3-5. Penteala Harikrishna of India, Tigran Petrosyan of Armenia and Mark Paragua of the Philippines, 8.0.
Under-10 girls (86 players): 1. Lara Stock of Croatia, 9.5; 2-3. M. Hejazi Pour of Iran and Jovana Vojinovic of Yugoslavia, 9.0; 4. Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine, 8.5.
Under-12 girls (84 players): 1. Tan Zhongyi of China, 9; 2. Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, 8.5; 3-5. Dronavali Harika of India, Ding Yixin of China and Anna Balkova of the Czech Republic, 8.0.
Under-14 girls (82 players): 1. Laura Rogule of Latvia, 9.5; 2. Polina Malysheva of Russia, 9.0; 3-4. A. Pour Kashiya of Iran and Joanna Majdan of Poland.
Under-16 girls (68 players): 1-2. Tamara Tchistichova of Russia and Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia, 9.0; 3-5 Marina Fomynik of Russia, Natalia Zvoska of Ukraine and Jolante Zawadzki of Poland, 8.0.
Under-18 girls (58 players): 1. Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany, 8.5; 2-5. Tamar Tsereteli of Georgia, Marie Sebag of France, Katerina Rohonyan of Ukraine and Ilse Berzina of Latvia, 8.
Please send your comments or feedback to newsfeedback@abs-cbn.com
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/abs_news_body.asp?section=Sports&OID=9569
