THE Philippines’ NM Ivan Travis Cu made the country proud by bringing home the bronze medal in the under-14 category in the Asian Youth Chess Championships 2022 held Oct. 13-22 in Bali, Indonesia.

Cu, a Grade 8 student at Xavier School, finished with 6.5 points on six wins, one draw and two losses in the nine-round competition organized by the Indonesian Chess Federation on behalf of the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE.

Seeded only 16th with an ELO of 1646, Cu finished only half a point behind eventual champion Pham Tran Gia Phuc of Vietnam in the 45-player tournament which attracted participants from India, Vietnam, Kazakstan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore and New Zealand.

Cu tied for second to third places with John Veny Akkarakaran of India with 6.5 points, but settled for the bronze medal after the tiebreak was applied.

Cu’s triumph also ended the country’s four-year medal drought in the individual tally since IM Marvin Miciano topped the U18 and received his IM title.

Aside from the bronze medal, the San Juan City-based Cu receives the Candidate Master titleupon reaching a rating of 2000.

Cu, also the reigning 2022 National Age Group Chess Championship U-14 open category champion, won over No. 40 Ferdhian Ceisar Maulana of Indonesia in the first round , No. 5 Baron Burbach Brunel of Thailand in the second round, No. 10 Tampubolon Andreas Tio Parulian of Indonesia in the third round, No. 9 Alan Petukhov of Kazakhstan in the sixth round, No. 30 Satria Pamungkas Arjuna of Indonesia in the eighth round and No. 17 Kien Pham Anh of Vietnam in the ninth round.

His only draw came aagainst No. 11 Aldar Burentegsh of Mongolia.

Cu’s two losses came at the hands of Akkarakaran in the fouth round and Pham in the seventh round.

Cu is also scheduled to represent the country in the 6th Eastern Asia Youth Chess Championship in Bangkok, Thailand on Nov. 4-13.

Final standings:

7 points –T. H.Pham (Vietnam)
6.5 — J. Akkarakaran (India), T. Cu (Philippines).
6 — A.M. Dang (Vietnam), T. P. Pham (Vienam), G. Banh (Vietnam), A. Pham (Vietnam), A. Burentegsh (Mongolia), J. ooi (Australia).-