The Bayanihan Chess Club team (97 points) dominated the competition for a runaway victory in the Philippine E-9 chess club Open chess team championships dubbed as Arena Grandmaster (AGM) and National Master (NM) Almario Marlon Quiroz Bernardino Jr. 43rd birthday celebration Sunday night, August 2, 2020 at lichess.org.
Playing for Bayanihan Chess Club team were 13-time Philippine Open champion Grandmaster (GM) Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. (24 points), Doodee Libongcogon (24 points), Jiggy Miguel Vicente (20 points), Genghis Katipunan Imperial 17 (points) and NCFP executive director Atty. Cliburn Anthony Orbe (12 points).
The Founders team (75 points) placed second. Team members include tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP) National Master (NM) Karl Victor Ochoa (28 points), National Master (NM) Elwin Retanal (19 points), Norwin Altez Marasigan (10 points), Jun Jun Jabay (10 points) and Ruel Gomez (8 points).
Magnificent team (63 points) headed by Grandmaster (GM) Darwin Laylo (16 points) took third. Other members included Paulo Buenaobra (15 points), Viel Espinosa (11 points), Ariel Santander (11 points) and Kim Kenneth Santos (10 points).
Actually, Magnificent team and Fire Power team, both tallied 63 points, however Magnificent team took third place honor with superior tiebreak points against fourth placer Fire Power led by National Master (NM) Gerardo “Gerry Cabellon, Kyle Ochoa, Christopher Megino, Ariel Duiz and Johnvic Yu.
Other participating Teams were Destiny Team (58 points), Team Soju (57 points), No Mercy team (48 points), Avengers team (47 points), Power Moves team (45 points) and Baby Uno team (39 points).
Other notable players seeing in action were eight-time Illinois, USA chess champion International Master Angelo Abundo Young, Woman International Master Bernadette Galas, Fide Master Jony Habla, Woman Fide Master Cherry Ann Mejia, National Master Jonathan Tan, National Master Homer Cunanan, National Master Julius Sinangote, National Master Giovanni Mejia, National Master Robert Arellano, Bernardino, Arena Grandmaster Henry Roger Lopez and Korea chess champion Joel “Recca” Carcueva.