MARK Jay Bacojo and Mhage Gerriahlou Sebastian topped their divisions in the semifinals of the National Chess Championships at the PACE in Quezon City and earned a chance to bag a spot to the national team seeing action in the Bangkok Southeast Asian Games next year.
Bacojo, 18, drew with International Master Ricky de Guzman in the ninth and final round and then edged Vince Angelo Medina and Alexis Emil Maribao in the tiebreak when they emerged tied for first with 6.5 points apiece to rule the open section of the nine-round meet.
Sebastian, 19, bucked an early opening round defeat by scoring seven points in the last eight rounds to emerge the solo champion in the distaff side and lead the charge to the finals tentative set in December also at the PACE.
Joining Sebastian in the finals were Allaney Jia Doroy, Vic Glysen Derotas, Cherry Ann Mejia and Bonjoure Fille Suyamin.
In the finals, the five qualifiers will clash against Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna, WIMs Jan Jodilyn Fronda and Bernadette Galas, Woman FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza and Ruelle Canino, who took the Group B gold medal in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary recently.
In the men’s side Medina, Maribao along with Phil Martin Casiguran and De Guzman will compete in the finals against a field that will include Olympiad veterans and newly minted GM Daniel Quizon, GM John Paul Gomez, IMs Pau Bersamina and Jem Garcia.
GMs Darwin Laylo and Joey Antonio are also invited to join the finals slated Oct. 23 to Nov. 1 in Alicia, Isabela where the champion pockets the top purse worth P120,000.
