5-year-old Banawa, 9-year-old Caole net three gold medals each in National Age Group Championships

THERE IS a pair of chess prodigies emerging from the North.

Five-year-old Jodiel Chloe Banawa and nine-year-old Empress Anika Caole blew away their respective classes to snare three gold medals each in the National Age Group Chess Championships at the SMX Convention Center in Olongapo over the weekend.

An Alicia, Isabela native, Ms. Banawa dominated both rapid and blitz of the girls’ Under-8 section where she went perfect in five rounds on both events to add to her standard gold on Sunday.

Ms. Caole, also from Alicia, was as spectacular and raked in the standard, rapid and blitz mints of the girls’ U10 to join Ms. Banawa as the only triple-gold winners in the four-day event that served as a qualifying tournament for the ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championships in Singapore in August.

“Proud of them both,” said the two girls’ coach International Master Joel Banawa.

Mr. Banawa was also amazed by Jodiel, his five-year-old daughter, who took up the sport only last year after gravitating to the royal out of curiosity.

“I have no idea how she (Jodiel) thinks, but it’s different. Competing against players two to three years older and with an undeveloped brain who can calculate more than five moves is beyond me,” he said.

Keith Adriane Ilar also topped the rapid event for combined boys’ U18 and U20 after reigning in the standard U16 boys on Sunday.

Other winners in rapid were Sumer Oncita (U12 and U14 boys), Woman FIDE Master April Joy Claros (U18 and U20 girls) while Vince Duane Pascual (U18 and U20 boys), Richard Alarma (U14 and U16 boys), Franchesca Largo (U18 and U20 girls) and Cyeine Borce (U14 and U16 girls) were blitz winners. — Joey Villar