 The soft and sweet breeze of the City of Pines as well as its enchanting scenery provided a conducive atmosphere for the contenders who came all the way from Manila, Bulacan, Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union, Nueva Ecija, Benguet, and Baguio to fiercely compete for prestigious seats in the Grand Finals of SNYACC which will happen on October 15-16, 2005 at the Entertainment Plaza of SM City North Edsa, Quezon City. Of the 105 participants in the Juniors division, Eugene Pimentel of the University of the East (Manila) topped the category with a score of 6.5 while second place went to Vic Neil Villanueva of University of Santo Tomas (UST) as Jayson Salubre of De La Salle University - Taft, Manila placed third. St. Louis University (Baguio) bet Aezon Fernandez placed fourth while Jan Paragua of UST ranked fifth. The race to the top in the Kiddies category was equally seething as the Juniors category. In a pool of 212 kiddie wood pushers, Jude Emil Fronda of Colegio de San Juan De Letran clinched the top spot with a score of 6.5 and closely followed by Amram Ezra Rivas of Philippine Normal University (Manila) and John Ranel Morazo of InterWorld Colleges Foundation (Paniqui, Tarlac) ranked second and third place respectively. San Beda College (Manila) bet Jan Emmanuel Garcia copped the fourth place while Michael Angelo Angeles of Sta. Elene High School (Marikina) settled for the fifth place. The leg competition was played with a minimum of seven (7) rounds, Swiss System for both Kiddies and Juniors divisions. Winners of special awards were Jan Jodilyn Fronda of Philippine Christian University (Manila) for Overall Top Female Player; Alexis Charlotte Suede of Nemesio I. Yabut Elementary School (Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City) for the Youngest Player award; School Most Represented in the Juniors division went to St. Louis University - Baguio with 27 representatives while St. Louis - PHILEX in Tuba, Benguet won in the kiddies division also with 27 representatives. The opening ceremonies of the tournament was graced by Hon. Domingo Bay-an, former Mayor of Boguias Benguet and Chief Executive Officer of Governor Borromeo Melchor together with Pilipinas Shell General Manager for External Affairs Roberto Kanapi. Shell Abanao dealer Gladys Vergara De Vera, Baguio City Sports Coordinator Edison Villafuerte, Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc. Teddy Bolivar, and Pilipinas Shell Retail Territory Manager Tisha Sugui joined the winners of the tournament during the festive closing ceremonies of the Baguio leg. The two-day Shell chess tournament in Baguio City, the maiden leg for Northern Luzon leg, was held on July 9-10, 2005 at the Atrium of SM Baguio. The third leg of the eight-leg tournament series of Shell Active Chess will take place on July 23-24, 2005 at the People’s Gymnasium in Tuguegarao. To register for Tuguegarao tournament, contact area coordinator Mariano Cabugos at (078) 844-2894 or call Alex Dinoy at (0916) 5146384 or (02) 744-1664.
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