Tagaytay chessers begin title-retention bid with a bang

MANILA, Philippines – Top seed Tagaytay City , Mandaluyong City and Quezon City swept their respective rivals to take the headstart after two rounds in the 2009 National Inter-Cities and Municipalities chess team championship Sunday at the Metro Town Mall in Tarlac City. Bannered by GM Darwin Laylo and veteran non-master Raymond Salcedo, Tagaytay whipped Madalum (Lanao del Sur), 4-0, in the first round and nipped Makati Ciy, 2.5-1.5, to take the lead with a perfect score of four points. Laylo, a member of the national team to the 38th World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany last year, defeated Roger Sarip to lead Tagaytay to a sweep of Lanao del Sur. Salcedo outplayed Roland Suarez and Allan Macala humbled Campos to clinch a narrow win for Tagaytay over Makati despite Laylo’s setback to IM Richard Bitoon on board one. Mandaluyong City, led by GM Buenaventura “Bong" Villamayor and Allan Cantonjos, and Quezon City, bannered by GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. and Jerry Areque, also hurdled their respective rivals to join Tagaytay City and four other teams in the early lead in this five-day tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). With Villamayor drawing with Belsar Valencia in the first round and beating IM Barlo Nadera in the second round, Mandaluyong subdued San Fernando (La Union), 2.5-1.5, and Muntinlupa City, 2.5-1.5. Equally impressive was Quezon City, which crushed NCDA-QC, 4-0, in the first round and Gerona (Tarlac), 3.5-.5, to serve notice of its own title aspirations. Antonio trampled Rodolfo Sarmiento (NCDA) and Francis Erwin Dimarucut (Tarlac) to lead Quezon City’s assault. Backing up Antonio were Areque, Gary Legaspi and Ilann Perez. The other early winners were Local Water Utilities Administration-Quezon City –A, which humbled DepEd-Pasig Cty, 3.5-.5, and LQUA-QC-C, 3-1; Philippine National Police-QC-A, which crushed Cebu, 3.5-.5, and Calamba City (Laguna), 3-1; Marfori-Pasig, which outclassed Virac, 4-0, and LWUA-QC-B, 2.5-1.5; and LWUA-QC-F, which outplayed Paniqui (Talrac), 3.5-.5, and FEU-FERN-Inton-QC, 3-1. Valenzuela City, headed by GM Mark Paragua and Ian Gil Biag, led two other teams in eighth to 10th places with three points. Valenzuela drew with Nueva Ecija, 2-2, in the first round and won over LWU-QC-D, 3.5-.5. Joining Valenzuela were Lingayen, 3-1 winner over LWUA-QC-C and Antipolo City, 3-1 victor over Iba (Zambales) in the first round. Lingayen, led by NM Mirabeau Maga, and Antipolo City, bannered by FM Christopher Castellano, drew their second-round match, 2-2. Makati City debuted with a 4-0 win over Calapan City but lost to Tagaytay, 1.5-2.5, while Muntinlupa City beat Aparri, 3.5-.5, but bowed to Mandaluyong City , 1.5-2.5. –GMANews.TV