Woman FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza and Daniel Quizon topped their respective divisions as host Philippines ruled the blitz section of the ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championships yesterday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City.
Mendoza walloped Vietnamese Woman International Master Nguyen Thanh Thuy Tien to cop the premier girls’ U20 while Quizon dumped Jasper Faeldonia to reign supreme in the open U14 while also leading the country to the team gold.
Both Mendoza and Cuizon ended up as the best performers among Filipinos with four golds apiece with the former winning the individual and team golds in the standard division and the latter the individual and team golds in the rapid section the day before.
Mendoza and Cuizon capped the country’s strong effort in blitz where it outperformed Vietnam with better gold count, 17-12, in the event organized by Chess Events International, sanctioned by the NCFP under Butch Pichay, bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission and backed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Ruelle Canino (girls U10), Rhenzi Kyle Sevillano (U20), Darry Bernardo (U18), FM Alekhine Nouri (U16), Francois Marie Magpily (girls U16) and WFM Allaney Jia Doroy (girls U18) provided the other individual victories for the country.
The last day assault enabled the country to salvage some measure of pride after Vietnam lorded over the standard and rapid sections with gold hauls of 18 and 20 as against the former’s 10 and eight, respectively.
