Olympiad veteran IM Garcia rules online Christmas chess tourney

MANILA, Philippines, December 28 ------ Olympiad veteran International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia unleashed a strong finishing kick to outlast Ellan Asuela and rule the “Pamaskong Handog ni GM Rosendo Balinas, Jr.” online tournament yesterday.

The 25-year-old Garcia scored 34 points in his last 12 games to rule the two-hour event with a total score of 101 points and claim the top purse worth P5,000 in the tournament done in memory of one of the late Balinas, one of the best chessers the country has produced.

Asuela, an untitled competitor but is considered one of the fastest Filipino woodpusher today, had a super strong start in seizing the lead early but could not sustain his pace and faltered in the end to wind up second with 94 points.

IM Daniel Quizon, the country’s blitz king, won his last game against Garcia to settle for third with 87 points. Rounding up the top 10 were FIDE Master Arden Reyes, John Clifford Labog, Chin Lim, FM Roel Abelgas, GM Banjo Barcenilla, Eric Labog, Jr. and FM Aj Literatus.

Source: philstar.com/sports