OZAMIZ City ― At only seven years old, the good-looking boy from Escalante, Negros Occidental became the country’s youngest Fide Master.
A feat that Alekhine Nouri achieved in June 2013 during the 14th Asean Age Group Chess Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ten years forward and the 17-year-old Philippine junior champion Nouri has caught again everybody’s attention when he dominated the Battle of Champions that assembled the who’s who in Philippine Chess in the 1st Governor Henry S. Oaminal 8-in-1 Ozamiz Chess Festival held November 10-12 at the City Auditorium here.
In a 10-player tournament using the Armageddon format (six minutes for white, five for black) and held under the probing eyes of Hall of Famer Grandmaster Eugene Torre, Nouri came out seething to rule as he finished with five wins, three draws and one loss to edge out the pair of International Masters Joel Pimentel Jr of Cebu and Richelieu Salcedo III of Misamis Oriental for the crowning glory.
For his feat, Nouri got the top purse of P40,000, courtesy of Gov. Oaminal and his son Ozamiz City Mayor Henry ‘Indy’ Oaminal Jr through the organizing Asenso Misamis Occidental Chess Association headed by its president Arena Grandmaster Rey Urbiztondo.
“The older rivals’ antics are both funny and annoying, but I enjoyed much the Battle of Champions,” said the youthful Nouri, who enjoyed a week-long stint at the Capitol Chess Park in Cagayan de Oro, before heading to the cash-rich Ozamiz Chess Festival.
“At least I was able to prove something in the single round-robin affair that featured the best young and old Filipino chess masters,” he added.
The University of Santo Tomas stalwart named after former world chess champion Alexander Alekhine strung up three straight wins against Fide Master Ellan Asuela of Cagayan de Oro, IM Pimentel, and GM Darwin Laylo of Manila. He also won over IM Ronald Bancod of Manila in the fifth and IM Kim Steven Yap of Cebu in the eighth round.
His matches with GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. of Manila in the fourth, Salcedo in the sixth, and IM Roderick Nava of Manila in the ninth and final round all ended in a draw.
Nouri’s lone defeat came in the seventh round opposite the sixth-running IM Rolando Nolte of Manila.
Pimentel, winner of the Asenso Misamis Occidental National Open chess tournament won his last-round assignment over Laylo to create a two-way tie with Salcedo for second and third places, respectively.
Final standings:
Nouri, Alekhine ― 19.5 pts
Pimentel, Joel Jr, Salcedo, Richelieu III ― 19 pts
Asuela, Ellan ― 15.5 pts
Antonio, Rogelio Jr ― 15 pts
Nolte, Rolando ― 12.5 pts
Laylo, Darwin ― 11.5 pts
Nava, Roderick ― 8.5 pts
Yap, Kim Steven ― seven pts
Bancod, Ronald ― three pts
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