Mordido posts Shell record win

MANILA, Philippines — Kylen Joy Mordido became the first female player to capture the overall crown in the 25th Shell National Youth Active Chess Championship grand finals, ruling the juniors division in emphatic fashion at the SM MOA Music Hall in Pasay last Sunday.

The Dasmariñas National High School standout, a Candidate Master, scored 1.5 points in the last two rounds and posted an 8-point total to beat Stephen Rome Pangilinan and Julius Gonzales by 1.5 points. Carl Ancheta and Francois Magpily finished tied at fourth with five points in the 9-round Swiss system tournament sponsored by Pilipinas Shell.

Mordido, who clinched the top female honors in the Batangas leg of the regional elims, thus shared top honors with kiddies overall champion David Rey Ancheta and Far Eastern U’s Jeth Romy Morado, winner of the seniors title, at the close of the two-day championship.

Mordido’s record win in the 13-16 age division also came in the final SNYACC as Pilipinas Shell bowed out of the local chess scene after 25 years.

Ancheta, a mainstay of the Corpus Christi School who topped the Cagayan de Oro elims, also sustained his hot start, sweeping his last two matches in the 7-12 category to finish with eight points, a full point ahead of Mark Jay Bacojo and Michael Concio Jr.

Morado, a runner-up in the NCR elims, scored just one point in the last two rounds for seven points but still snared the 17-20 division crown, edging Jethro Esplanada and Ali Ahmad Azote in the tiebreak.