International Master Michael Concio Jr. defeated Gabriel Ryan Paradero in 55 moves of a King’s Indian Attack to keep the boys’ title in the Philippine National Juniors Chess Championships at the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence in Quezon City Monday night.
By winning the title, Concio earned the right to represent the country in the 2025 World Juniors Championships in Petrovac, Montenegro, in February.
He finished with 6.5 points to claim the PHP20,000 top purse in the event organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
Paradero fell into a tie for second with Cedric Khalil Abris and FIDE Master Mark Jay Bacojo with six points each but ended up fourth for having the lowest tiebreak score.
Abis, who stunned former national juniors champion, FM Alekhine Nouri, placed second, while Bacojo, who prevailed over Phil Martin Casiguran, was third.
Joining Concio in Montenegro is Lexie Grace Hernandez of Ateneo de Manila University, who won the girls’ title due to a better tiebreaker.
The 19-year-old Interdisciplinary Studies student lost in the opening round but scored 5.5 points out of her last six outings, including a 46-move, final-round victory over Jersey Marticio of a Caro-Kann encounter.
Hernandez was tied for first with Daren Dela Cruz, who beat Karol Jozef de Guia with 5.5 points each, but Hernandez secured the title due to a better tiebreaker, 25-21.5.
“I didn’t expect it because there are many good players and my mindset for the whole tournament is that I will just play no matter what the results of my performance are,” Hernandez, a former Eastern Asia Youth standard and blitz gold medalist, said.
Dela Cruz finished second, while Ruelle Canino was third with five points.
