Pinoy Power in Teams Event

The 25th Merdeka Team Championships ended Sunday with teams consisting mostly of Filipinos winning the top three places. Tagaytay City took first on 25.5 points. The team featured the two Pinoy grandmasters, Antonio and Mariano II. Filipino players Llavanes, Panopio and Abalos occupied the lower boards.

In second place was team PAEZ Dental Clinic - an all Filipino outfit comprising of Darwin Laylo, IM Dableo, FM Dimakiling plus two unrateds, Paez and Legaspi. They amassed a total of 22 board points. PAEZ routed a China-Malaysia coalition bannered by Malaysia Open winner, Wang Hao, 3.5 - 0.5.

Third place overall went to Bangka Manila. They completed their campaign on 22 board points also but ended the event one match point less than PAEZ. The team featured FM Jesse Sales, FM Salimbagat (USA) plus a couple of Indonesians - Setiawan, Sonjaya and Anasrullah. Bangka's most notable victory came in the seventh round when they blanked out Indonesia 'A', 4-0.

Final crosstable is available here. And a handful of games can be viewed on Gilachess' blog.

On a final note, permit me to extend my condolences to fellow blogger, Gilachess. As you can read in his blog, his family is currently grieving the passing of his grandmother.