Arca and Tan share leads in ASEAN Age Group Chess tourney

THE PHILIPPINES’ Christian Gian Karlo Arca and Mary Janelle Tan stayed perfect after two rounds to keep their grip of the lead in their respective classes in the ASEAN Age Group Chess Championships in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday.

Pitted against foes older by three to four years, Mr. Arca, a 14-year-old Panabo, Davao del Norte native now training in Dasmariñas, was unperturbed in picking up two victories in a row over Thai Wakin Krisnawongsakul and Vietnamese Tran Vo Quoc Bao to stay at the helm with two points.

Mr. Arca shared the top spot with Vietnam’s Nguyen Quoc Hy and Vo Pham Thien Phuc.

For the nine-year-old Ms. Tan, ranked only 25th of the 29 entries, she plowed the field and conquered some of the big guns in third seed Duong Hoang Minh Anh of Vietnam and 11th pick Intan Berliyyan of Indonesia.

By doing so, she gatecrashed into the five-chesser lead pack alongside the Vietnamese foursome of Pham Thi Minh Ngoc, Tran Duong Hoang, Huynh Le Khanh and Thai Ngoc Phuong Minh.

Also trying to bring home the bacon were International Masters Daniel Quizon and Michael Concio, Jr., who were seeing action in the premier Open Under-20 section where they are the top two seeds.

The country’s participation is being bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission and backed by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and Philippine Olympic Committee. — Joey Villar