Hadassah Ria F. Literatus gave the Davao Region its first gold medal in the Palarong Pambansa 2026 after winning the secondary girls blitz chess tournament on Monday, May 25, at San Lorenzo Ruiz Church in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur.
The Doña Carmen Denia National High School standout from Davao City topped the seven-round event with six points, edging Central Visayas’ Apple Rubin via tiebreak.
Both players finished with identical six-point totals, but Literatus secured the gold medal after defeating Rubin in their head-to-head matchup in Round 5.
The young woodpusher also comes from a respected chess family as the younger sister of Fide Master Austin Jacob (AJ) Literatus, who also served as her first coach and trainer.
According to coach John Henrick Fajardo, tournament rules state that if only two players finish tied, the winner of their direct encounter gets the higher placing.
“Pareho sila six points ni Rubin pero kay napildi ni Hadassah si Rubin sa ilang duwa, siya ang gi-declare nga gold medalist (They both finished with six points, but because Hadassah defeated Rubin in their match, she was declared the gold medalist),” Fajardo, who has been training Literatus for years now, explained in an interview with SunStar Davao.
Fajardo said the Buchholz system is only applied when three or more players finish tied in points.
Literatus opened her title run by defeating Ma. Myrtle Versola of Soccsksargen, before beating Western Visayas’ Muellene Babao and Soccsksargen’s Marianne Kristina Barlan in the next two rounds. She followed those victories with wins over Kristina Belano and Rubin before settling for draws against Jemaicah Mendoza of Soccsksargen and Sheela Beato of BARMM in the final two rounds.
Fajardo credited Literatus’ composure and consistency throughout the tournament, especially during the crucial middle rounds.
The coach also revealed that the team approached training with a lighter and more positive atmosphere to help the players stay mentally sharp for the psychological demands of chess.
“Palaro training is fun. Dili kaayo siya intensive kay kabalo mi mga coach nga ang chess psychological game. Pag ma-feed namo sila og positive, mo-positive pud ang result
(Palaro training was fun. It was not overly intensive because we coaches know chess is a psychological game. If we feed the players positivity, the results also become positive),” Fajardo said.
Fajardo added that the team incorporated physical activities such as badminton and walking sessions to help the players avoid stress during training.
“Naga physical exercise pud mi like badminton ug walking para dili kaayo sila ma-stress sa training (We also did physical exercises like badminton and walking so the players would not become too stressed during training),” he said.
The coach added that the victory marked another milestone for Literatus, who also helped Davao Region capture the team blitz silver medal during the 2024 Palarong Pambansa in Cebu.
This year, the Davao Region’s secondary girls’ blitz team finished with a silver medal, behind Literatus, with Hannah Segara of A.L. Navarro National High School, and Beatrice Aton of Cor Jesu College in Digos City.
Fajardo said the gold medal served as a strong morale booster for the entire Davao Region delegation. MLSA
