A THOMASIAN clinched the eighth spot in the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) International Youth Chess Championship 2012- 9th Singapore International Chess Festival last Aug. 6-12 at the Nanyang Primary School in Singapore.
UST Woodpusher Normel Benigno de Jesus, the lone Filipino player in the Under-17 division, finished with 4.0 points after racking up three wins, four losses and two draws.
De Jesus prevailed over Li Peize (7th place) of China, Cameron Yung (9th) of Australia and Arani Akash (10th) of Singapore.
The 17-year-old Woodpusher settled for a draw in his ninth and final game against Timothy Ling Jing Sheng of Singapore to create a four-way tie for the seventh spot. But he lost the position to Peize due to tiebreak.
“During my last games, I didn’t have enough time for conditioning because we needed to travel from where we were staying to the venue,” said De Jesus. “It was my first time to compete internationally and I was glad that I did well.”
De Jesus is expected to power UST in the UAAP this year after the team finished second last season behind six-time champion Far Eastern University. Alexis U. Cerado
