Four PH chessers advance to knockout stage of FIDE Youth Online Chess tilt
Four PH chessers advanced to the next round of their respective divisions in the FIDE Online Rapid World Cup Cadets & Youth Chess Championships over the weekend.
Wayne Ruiz advanced to the Open 14-under playoff round after ending up in a six-player logjam for second place in the preliminaries.
Ruiz banked on his last-round victory over Kazakhstan’s Edgar Mamedov in a marathon 84 moves of a Sicilian encounter to finish with 8 points.
Lexie Grace Hernandez also advanced to the knockout stage in the girls 16-under division.
Also barging into the Round of 16 knockout phase were Jersey Marticio and April Joy Claros in the girls’ 14-under.
Marticio claimed the top seeding after finishing with 8.5 points highlighted by a 10th-round victory in the prelims against Woman FIDE Master Kai Ni Agnes Chong of Malaysia.
The 14-year-old prevailed after 22 moves of a Slave Defense.
Claros, meanwhile, advanced after finishing tied for sixth with 7.5 points.
Her last match ended with a draw with American Yesun Lee in 33 moves of a Queen’s Pawn London System.
Ruelle Canino, however, failed to advance after finishing with only six points for a share of 30th place.