Heavy Prizes at Caloocan Chess Festival (Television set instead of trophies)

The annual Caloocan Chess Festival held every third Sunday of February at Barangay 4 Sangandaan ,Caloocan City ended in a two way tie for first at 4.5- 0.5 among National Master Jovert Valenzuela and 16 years old Sheider Nebato of General Santos City now playing for Far Eastern University. Instead of the usual trophy given to the winner the organizer changed it into television set, with the

champion getting a 29" television set, the second placer a 25" television set, a 21"television set for the third placer and 14" TV set for 4th and 5th placers. Chess patron Ian Gatmaitan awarded the cash prizes and the TV sets to the winners. The tournament was ably managed by National Arbiter Ernie Baltazar. A qualifying event was first played, with the winners of each group advancing to the final. In the final, the popular sudden death playoffs was used wherein a draw is held with the winner having the option of choosing his colors. If he chooses White, he gets 6 minutes but he must win. If he chooses Black,he gets only five minutes but a drawn game is sufficient to win the title. THE TOP (4) IN EACH GROUP: GROUP A 1ST Sheider Nebato 2ND Edgar Habana 3RD Paterno Pitero 4TH Paulo Alejo. GROUP B 1st Pio Kit Ibanez 2ND Joseph Galindo 3RD Richard Perez 4TH Harvey Hernandez. GROUP C 1ST Jovert Valenzuela 2ND Salim Mamboay 3RD George Bandola 4TH Reinier Valenzuela GROUP D 1ST Aileen Pacis 2ND Gerald Gonio 3RD Fortunato Blanco 4TH Bey Puno GROUP E 1ST Fernando Custodio 2ND Roberto Ricafort 3RD Joey Mangarang 4TH Joel Mazo GROUP F 1ST Ray Esposa 2ND Efren Zamesa 3RD Jerome Flores 4TH Artemio Gonzales

FINAL STANDINGS

1ST JOVERT VALENZUELA 4.5 points

2ND SHEIDER NEBATO 4.5 points

3RD PIO KIT IBANEZ 3.0 points

4TH RAY ESPOSA 1.5 points

5TH FERNANDO CUSTODIO 1.5 points

6TH AILEEN PACIS 0