Cruz rules media chessfest

MANILA, Philippines - Noli Sangil Cruz of Remate and Remate online dominated the Media Chess Tournament dubbed as 1-ProDem Press Freedom Cup at the National Press Club (NPC) in Intramuros, Manila on Sunday.

Cruz actually ended in a tie for first place with Elech Dawa of Remate/Hataw, Celso Quijano of Manila Bulletin/Tempo and Orlando Primo of X-Files/Police Files with identical 4.0 points.

But Cruz, a former Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) stalwart got the Champion’s trophy with a better tiebreaker card.

Genie Villota of Remate/Aksiyon, Arce Cortez of Pinoy Journalismo Bulacan and Ian Piedad of Balita shared equally the prize monies for the fifth, sixth and seventh places for ending up in a tie at 3.0 points.

But Villota got the fifth place, Cortez the sixth place and Piedad the seventh place.

Tying for eight to 10th places were Michelle Borlongan of Bulakan Herald, Maria Angela Gonzales and Jun Borlongan of Bulgar.

Villota and Cortez bagged the top senior player awards while Michelle and Maria Angela took home the top lady awards.

Other players seeing in action were Nympha Miano-Ang of Bulgar, Rey Nillama of Remate/ Aksiyon, Henry Vargas of Hataw and kiddie guest player Mercidel Primo.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Executive Director Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales and Dr. John Teope of 1-Prodem attended the opening ceremonies of the tournament to give an inspirational message to the participants.

The one-day tournament sponsored by the 1st Philippine Pro-Democracy Foundation, Inc. in close cooperation with the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), National Press Club (NPC) and the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) applying the five round Swiss System format with 25-minute time control for each player.