CHESS WIZ. Millery Gen Watson Subia of Nueva Ecija wins five medals in the 21st ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championships at the Asia Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand on June 17-26, 2023. She won the individual gold (standard) and bronze (blitz) and the silver in standard, rapid and blitz team events. (Contributed photo)
MANILA – Millery Gen Watson Subia of Nueva Ecija captured five medals in the girls Under-10 division of 21st ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championships held from June 17 to 26 at the Asia Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
Subia, 10, had four wins and five draws for a total of 6.5 points to share first place with two Vietnamese players in the standard category.
She defeated Myanmar's Chan Myint Mo Aye and Vietnam's Hoang Bao An Tran, Vu Bao Chao Nguyen and Thi Minh Ngoc Pham and drew with Vietnam's Ngoc Thao Nguyen, Ngoc Nga Duong, Duong Hoang Ngan Tran, Thanh Huong Nguyen and Ngoc Phuong Minh Thai.
Subia considered her match against 10-year-old Duong Hoang Ngan Tran, the top seed with an Elo rating of 1787, using the London System as the "most memorable and best game of the competition."
She also won the silver medal in the standard, rapid and blitz team events with Mary Janelle Tan and Deandra Castronuevo and a bronze medal in the individual blitz.
Subia started playing chess at the age of seven, learning the sport from her father Gener, a doctor, while the country was on lockdown due to Covid-19 in 2020.
"My daughter was fascinated by the games of her foreign chess idols GM Judith Polgar and her sisters, GM Hikaru Nakamura and world champions Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal, Bobby Fisher and Magnus Carlsen and local idols, Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre and Woman Grandmaster, Janelle Mae Frayna. These players made her love and appreciate the game," said Subia's mother Millicent Marie, a nurse, in an online interview on Thursday.
Players from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand participated in the 21st ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championships, which was organized by the Thailand Chess Association. (PNA)
