AMID deep mourning and unbearable sorrow, a lion-hearted Cagayan de Oro lass has succeeded in conquering the recently-held Batang Pinoy National Chess Championships 2023 as her way of paying last respect to her departed mother who suffered a tragic end three days before the staging of the nationwide multi-sports meet in Manila.
The nine-year-old Iyren Kate Moneva from the Cantilado Chess Club of Barangay Canitoan, Cagayan de Oro City had managed to emerge triumphant on the last day of the week-long Batang Pinoy chess competition where she nailed the Under-nine girls’ crown in blitz category as well as its team event title in tandem with her childhood friend and neighbor Aleyah Kristine Francisco.
“These two gold medals in Batang Pinoy I earnestly offered to my Nanay Lorien Mae who was very supportive of my chess goals in life,” said the innocent-looking Moneva in a casual talk with this writer.
“It was a dream come true for Nanay Lorien for me to win one day in the national chess competition. I know that she’s happy now,” added Moneva in the vernacular.
Moneva’s 31-year-old mother was laid to rest at the Bulua public cemetery in Cagayan de Oro on December 19 when the chess event was still in progress at the GSIS Gymnasium in Pasay City.
Her coach Renan Cantilado said Iyren Kate was sobbing to no end at the start of the standard event which seriously affected her performance up to the rapid play of chess on the penultimate day of action, forcing him to console her young ward and encourage her to be strong enough and give a good fight to make her mother proud.
It was on the fateful Wednesday noon of December 13 when Moneva came home from school when she saw her mother’s lifeless body slumped inside their makeshift house, bathed in her blood with multiple stab wounds mostly on her left chest.
Her assailant, a 71-year-old former member of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit turned barber (hair-cutter) was immediately arrested by the responding policemen.
Witnesses said the old man was heavily intoxicated with liquor when he entered the victim’s shanty and slaughtered Lorien Mae, for no apparent reason, who was left alone inside.
Despite the tragedy, Moneva ― who grew confident of her talent after her initial victory in the cash-rich Ozamiz Chess Festival last November ― insisted to continue competing in Batang Pinoy if only to fulfill her mother’s wishes.
The consequence?
Coach Cantilado said he was compelled to sign a letter of agreement with Cagayan de Oro City sports consultant Ruel Daba that he would shoulder the child’s plane ticket if she suddenly decided to return home from Manila out of sheer longingness.
“It was really hard on our part, though Moneva’s success was a poetic justice in this most difficult times for all of us,” shared Cantilado.
Unknowingly, the tragic experience was also a blessing in disguise for Cantilado and his wife Elsie who never have a child yet and readily welcome Moneva to the family.
Renan said Moneva’s 33-year-old father Ian has consented to entrust his daughter’s future to the thriving Cantilado Chess Club of Cagayan de Oro.
“I keep on crying because of the unexpected turn of events, some of them may be tears of joy,” confessed Elsie, a cashier at the City Hall of Cagayan de Oro, who became an instant mother to the orphaned chess-loving kids of Barangay Canitoan neighborhood.
“Moneva is the fourth child that we are considering adopting along with the first one Sherleen Cobey, 13,” added Elsie as she pointed to the Gallana siblings Cyrus, 10, and Churchille,11 among their latest family members who also contributed to the Cagayan de Oro’s 15-medal (nine golds, five silvers, one bronze) haul in sustaining a dominant show in Batang Pinoy chess.
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