Russians rule Asian Juniors rapid; Arca, Concio deliver
MANILA, Philippines – The Russians stamped their class in the 2024 Asian Juniors Rapid Chess Championships with Grandmaster Aleksey Grebnev ruling the boys division and WIM Anna Shukhmann topping the girls category at the Knights Templar Hotel in Tagaytay City.
Living up to his top seeding, Grebnev, ranked 36th among the world’s best junior players with an Elo 2530, posted 7 points on 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, to edge Indians S. Aswath and A. Adireddy and Vietnamese K. D. Day, who tallied 6.5 each in the rapid event preceding the standard competition on Sunday, October 13.
Shukman, also the highest-rated in the girls’ division, chalked 8 points on 8 wins and 1 loss against the 7 points of Sri Lankan D. Gunawardhana and the 6 of Indian G. Shubhi and Uzbek Z. Sultanbek.
The Filipino hopefuls, led by Fide Master Christian Gian Karlo Arca, International Master Michael Concio, Grandmaster Daniel Quizon, and Yuri Paragura did good.
The 15-year-old Arca, a prized find from Panabo City who won a GM-laden event in Vietnam last May, amassed 5.5 points along with Concio, a Chess World Cup campaigner in 2021 when he was just 16. Both posted 5 wins, 1 draw with 3 losses.
Quizon, 20, the country’s newest GM after playing for Team Philippines in the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, notched 5 points with Paraguya.
Arca and Quizon could have placed higher if not for the ninth-round defeats they suffered against Indian IM S. Aswath and Candidate Master Yash Bharadia, respectively.
Filipinos Phil Martin Casiguran, David Sean Romualdez, Andrew James Toledo, and Danry Seth Romualdez all had 4 points, while Marius Constante had 3.5 points.
Woman Fide Master Jemaicah Yap Mendoza and Elle Castronuevo shared sixth to 12th places in the girls’ division with 5 points each.
Mendoza rebounded from a first-round setback to finish with 5 wins and 4 losses, the same as Castronuevo, who swept her last three games.
Apple Rubin and Arleah Cassandra Sapuan finished with 4 points in the 22-player, 11-nation field.
The weeklong competition organized by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the Tagaytay City government under Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the Philippine Sports Commission continues with the standard event on Monday. – Rappler.com