ATENEO standout Lexie Grace Hernandez came out of nowhere to snatch the girls’ crown in the Philippine National Juniors Chess Championships at the PACE yesterday.
Unfazed by a painful opening-round defeat, the 19-year-old Interdisciplinary Studies student went on a rampage and scored 5.5 points in her last six outings, including a 46-move, final-round win over Jersey Marticio in a Caro-kann duel.
The win powered the former Eastern Asia Youth standard and blitz gold winner into a tie for first with Daren dela Cruz, who bested Karol Jozef de Guia, with 5.5 points each but went on to snare the title with a better tiebreaker score, 25-21.5.
The victory earned the Candaba, Pampanga native the right to represent the country in the World Juniors meet in Petrovac, Montenegro in February next year plus the P15,000 prize.
“Actually, I didn’t expect it pokasiangdami pong magagaling and ‘yung mindset kopo ng whole tournament is maglalarolangakokahitano man po ‘yungmaging results ng performance kosa tournament,” said Hernandez.
Dela Cruz finished second while RuelleCanino ended up third with five points.
It was a heartbreaking finish for Canino, the heavy favorite to win it all being the reigning women’s champion and Olympiad veteran but just didn’t live up to expectations in this tournament organized by the NCFP and backed by the PSC.
