SINGAPORE – Mari Joseph Turqueza of De La Salle-Taft swept his first two matches in an outstanding showing to kick off the Philippines’ campaign in the 2009 Singapore Chess Challenge at the Hotel Bencoolen here late Thursday.

Turqueza, who is best remembered for winning the gold medal in the recent University Games held in Iloilo City last October, opened his campaign with a smashing victory over of Jee Kai Xin of Singapore in the first round of this prestigious competition organized by the Singapore Chess Federation in cooperation with the Asian Chess Federation.

The 17-year-old BS Legal Management freshman at the La Salle-Taft followed it up with a similar impressive triumph over Aron Teh Eu Wen of Malaysia the following round to lead the charge of the 14-man Filipino delegation.

A mainstay of the famed V. Luna Chess Club-Quezon City, Turqueza will next meet Joel Chan Hoong of Singapore in the third round.

Equallly impressive was Dresden Olympiad veteran Christy Lamiel Bernales, who trounced Julian Kuan of Hong Kong in the first round and Olivia Madhavan of Malaysia in the second round to join the march of the favorites.

Four other Filipino players — Jedara Docena, Paulo Bersamina, Willie Abalos and Wilfredo Neri — also hurdled their first two assignments to join the lead pack.

Docena whipped Lee Jun Wei of Singapore and fellow Filipino Jean Karen Enriquez, Bersamina humbled Per Lindval of Sweden and Rajath Pranod of Singapore, Abalos trounced Panggabean Mukmin of Indonesia and Yat Guo Jie of Malaysia and Neri toppled Aaron Tan of Singapore and Nigel Dennis of England to keep their perfect score of two points.

Before losing to Docena in the second round, Enriquez rocked the tournament when she upset top seed Raghunandan Gokhale of India in the opening round.

The rest of the Filipino campaigners had modest starts.

Las Vegas Open age-group champion Stephen Rome Pangilinan opene dhis campaign by beating Saffiya Aljunied of Singapore in the first round but lost to Steven O’ Reilly of Australia the following round.

Mira Mirano outplayed Xavier Chua of Singapore in the first round  but bowed to Ismal Ahmad of Malaysia in the second round, Jeth Romy Morado succumbed to Jung Young Hoon of Korea but won over Anabel Hii Kai Li of Singapore.

Jessica Docena won over Tiong Jun Wei of Singapore but fell to Scott Shannon Neubronner of Singapore, Samantha Glo Revita lost to Albert Ang of Malaysia but won over Sanjay Doshi of Singapore, Shania Mae Mendoza fell to Vairavan Arjun of Singapore and drew with Jang Jaewon of Korea and Mark Jame Marcella drew with John Ong Peng of Singapore and  lost to Hanjojo Limono of Indonesia.

In the Commonwealth Open, Enrique Paciencia of the Philippines led all players with perfect score of two points.

The Singapore-bsed Paciancia defeated Max Illingworth of Australia in the first round and Khherdekar Sauravh of India to take an early half-point lead over seven other players.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay urged the Filipino participants to “continue to play well and bring honors to the country like what GM Wesley So did in the recent World Cup.”

“This is another good opportunity for our players, especially the young ones, to show their wares in the international chess stage,” said Pichay, who hops to produce more world-class players in the coming year.

Pichay and NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino have put emphasis on youth development as a “good way of discovering fresh talents not only from Metro Manila but in other cities and provinces as well.”

A total of 93 players from 11 countries are seeing action in the week-long competition being held as a substitute tournament in the absence of chess in the Southeast Asian Games calendar in Laos this week. (Tempo Sports)