PALAYAN City, Nueva Ecija — Local bet Dantrel Nava Ramos scored 4,5 points to rule the 1st Palayan Rapid Chess Tournament here last Sunday.For his feat, the 9-year-old Ramos received the P3,000 top prize.He was followed in the final ranking by Katriel Zaira Guerrero, Ralph Duran, Luigy Jirelle Manahan, Lauro Gomery, Aetan Mamaed, Zehra Selim, Gillan Zhea Mojica, Mark Lawrence Castro and Zacheous Mendoza in this order.Jerry Areque of Manila, on the other hand, topped the open seniors category.He was followed by Luigi Laking, Precious Ferrer, Johnny Guerrero, Leo Navarro, Stephen Manzano, Janna Alindogan, Dan Hamilton Arias, Raquel Suan and Rommel Lucion, in particular order.Tournament director is Manila Times correspondent Celso Cajucom.The opening and awarding ceremonies were graced by Grandmaster Daniel Quizon, International Master Roderick Nava and Mayor Viandrei Nicole Vianne Cuevas, who is a chess enthusiast herself.Before the start of the tournament, Quizon and Nava held a 40-player simultaneous chess exhibition, where the mayor also took part.Mayor Cuevas, meanwhile, vowed to support more sports development programs in Palayan City.She also encouraged the youth to learn and embrace chess because it helps improve the mental capacity and intellect of the player.'For those students who want to achieved your goal, you will have a daily training, more exposure and chess solving puzzle are grounds to be able to use as a tool to participate, specially by the Department of Education school sports programs leading to the Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association among other tournaments,' said Cuevas, who sponsored the prizes for the tournament.
