Nouri, Velarde stamp class in asian Juniors

The Philippines’ Alekhine Nouri and John Jerish Velarde struck gold and bronze, respectively, in the rapid division of the Asian Juniors Chess Championship at the Citrus Hotel in Waskaduwa, Sri Lanka.

Nouri, a 19-year-old FIDE Master, manhandled Indian International Master Kashish Manoj Jain in the seventh and last round to reign supreme while Velarde, 18, stunned second seed IM S Aswath of India to snatch the bronze.

Nouri, a two-time national juniors titlist, and Velarde both ended up undefeated with the former owning 6.5 points on six wins and a draw and the latter having six points on five triumphs and two deadlocks.

The two, supported by the Philippine Sports Commission through the help of commissioner Edward Hayco, are expected to shoot for more podium finishes as they were scheduled to compete in the blitz section yesterday and the premier standard event unfolding tomorrow.

Samantha Umayan, the country’s lone entry in the women’s class, suffered two straight draws in the last two rounds to Kazakhstan’s Zhanbota Kamarova and Sri Lankan J M Theruni V Jayasudara and kissed her medal chances goodbye.

She ended up 19th out of 70 participants.