Christian Gian Karlo Arca delivered Team Philippines’ lone gold medal in the Asian Youth Chess Championships after topping the Under-16 blitz category in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Thursday, June 20.

The 15-year-old FIDE Master finished the nine-round tournament with eight points for the solo win to follow up his triumph in a Grandmaster event in Quang Ninh, Vietnam last month.

He sealed his title victory with a ninth-round win over FM Daniyal Sapenov of Kazakhstan to finish with eight triumphs against a single loss against Kazakh Asman Bayantas in the fourth round.

Arca also competed in the U16 rapid event but finished at 13^th place with 4.5 points, and in the U18 standard event where he settled for 27^th place with 4.5 points.

Reigning national women’s champion and Olympiad-bound Ruelle Canino, meanwhile, finished ninth in the U16 blitz and U16 rapid with 6 and 4.5 points, respectively, while settling for 10^th in the U18 standard with 5.5 points.

Mar Aviel Carredo also saw action in the U14 where she finished 16^th in blitz (5.5 points), 17^th in rapid (4.5 points) and 39^th in standard (4 points).

Nika Juris Nicolas competed in the girls U12 where she landed 13^th in standard (5.5 points), 17^th in rapid (4 points) and 19^th in blitz (5 points),  while Elle Castronuevo played in the girls U10 and finished 26^th in rapid (3.5 points), 31^st in standard (4 points) and 32^nd in blitz (4 points).

Next up for Araca will be the Eastern Asia Junior Chess Championship on July 3 to 11 in Karawaci-Tangerang, Indonesia, followed by the 8^th Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship on July 12 to 21 in Penang, Malaysia.