Chess – Junior Championships 2006: Mark Cardona Makes it three in a row

Malta Independent Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 00:00 Last update: about 14 years ago

The Malta Chess Federation Junior Championship 2006, kindly sponsored by APS Bank, came to an end last week at the Main hall of St.Elias College in St.Venera.

The top category, that of Junior Chess Champion 2006, was won by Mark Cardona, of Qormi, who made it three in a row after his successes in the same competition in 2004 and 2005.

Patrick Zerafa of Marsaxlokk, and Rabat lad Sam Sacco, came second and third respectively with Sacco coming very close to a major upset after beating the Champion Cardona in round four. Sacco needed the full point in his last encounter on Friday however he missed to beat the more experienced Zerafa and after pushing it a little too far ended up losing the game and the title.

Christopher Farrugia was declared U/18 Champion with Leonard Farrugia clinging the U/16 title.

In the U/14 competition Luke Saliba, of St.Venera, retained his U/14 Champion trophy for the second year running with Luke Joseph Buhagiar taking second place. Rita Saliba was third overall and picked the Best female trophy leaving the third place trophy to Naomi Mercieca.

In the U/12 competition the struggle for first place was decided by Bucholtz since Rubi Mercieca, Jean Pierre Xuereb and Clarissa Cremona all ended the competition with four points out of five games. Interesting these three very promising youngsters managed to win one game each in their direct clashes whilst they all managed to beat the rest of the field in style. In the end Rubi Mercieca was declared U/12 Champion with nine year old Jean Pierre Xuereb taking second place and the U/10 Champion title. Cremona was third overall winning the Best Female award.

Other trophy winners were Daniel Bezzina, Jean Luke Mangion and youngster Claude Spiteri Belcher.

The prize giving was presided by two vice Presidents of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), namely, Libyan national Nizar Ali ELHAJ, and Geoffrey D.Borg who is also the President of the local Chess Federation.

Geoffrey Borg thanked the College rector, Fr Charles Mallia, for hosting the Junior Championship and the organising group for the good work. He also thanked the parents and all the participants for their contributions to make this event another success story.