National Juniors: Mirano keeps title bid alive
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

KALIBO, Aklan – Kevin Mirano agreed to a drew with tournament-leading Mari Joseph Torqueza in the seventh round to forge a three-way tie for second place in the 2011 National Juniors Championship at the NCCC Mall in Davao City on Monday.

Mirano (FED 2042) played with the disadvantageous black pieces against the higher-rated player Torqueza (FED 2181) to move up to 5.5 points on four wins and two draws with two rounds remaining.

He opened the tournament with three consecutive victories against unrated Adrian de Luna of Iloilo City, Janleigh Aguete and Emmanuel Eumir Songcuya (FED Phi 1802) of Dela Salle University.

Mirano, a standout of 2010-2011 UAAP champion Far Eastern University (FEU) chess team from Jumarap, Banga, Aklan, halved the points with FEU Baby Tamaraws high school player Vince Angelo Medina (FED 1963) in the fourth round and FEU teammate and top seed Sheider Nebato (FED 2233) in the sixth round.

Mirano also trounced Austin Jacob Literatus (FED 1997) in the fifth round. He remained within the striking distance of this year’s boys 20 years old and under champion Torqueza, who managed to score 6.5 points out of seven games in the field of 91 players.

In the distaff side, Susan Grace Neri of Aklan has 3.5 points on two wins, one loss and three draws to share 13th to 20th places after six rounds.

The nine-round annual tournament is sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in cooperation with the Davao government from April 29 to May 3. The winners will represent the country in the World Juniors in New Delhi, India on August 1 to 16, 2011.