Paragua finishes fifth with final round draw

International Master Mark Paragua drew with Hungarian Grandmaster Ferenc Berkes in the 11th and final round last weekend and wound up in fifth place in the World Youth Chess Championship in Hersonissos, Crete in Greece.

It was only the second draw in 11 matches for the Filipino GM candidate in the event featuring the world’s best 18-year-old players. He finished with eight points, actually tied for third with Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna (2551) and Armenia’s Tigran Petrosyan (2324) but landed fifth after the tiebreak (Progressive Scores).

Paragua, with an ELO rating of 2476, also drew against Hungarian Andraw Flumbort in the fourth round and absorbed losses to Georgia’s Zviad Izoria (2572) in the fifth round and France’s Matthieu Cornette (2355) in the seventh.

Berkes (2545) finished tied with Azerbaijan’s Shahriyar Mammadyarov (2580) with nine points apiece but won the crown via tiebreak.

Paragua’s victims in the tournament were China’s Zhang Zhuoya (2148), Uzbekistan’s Damir Husnutdinov (2346), France’s Anthony Bellaiche (2369), Ukraine’s Anton Sitnikov (2348), Belarus’ Mikita Mayorau (2324), Spain’s Menendez Gonzalez (2307) and Harikrishna.

Paragua’s strong showing in Greece and during the Chess Olympiad in Bled earlier this month might push him past the 2500 barrier. Together with NM Joseph Sanchez and father, Ric, Paragua will proceed to Italy for the Genova International Open on Nov. 25 to Dec. 1.

Filipinos who won their matches in the last round were Roderick Nava of Carmona, Cavite, who defeated Jose Cabrejos Tovar (2193) of Peru; Cheradee Chardine Camacho of La Union, who bested Marta Klemencic of Croatia; and Aices Salvador of Manila, who won over Vanessa Feliciano of Brazil.

Nava finished with 5.5 points and ranked 43rd out of 89 participants in the B-18 group. Salvador, with her victories in the last three rounds, earned six points and ranked 37th while Camacho, with 2.5 points in the last four rounds, ranked 54th with her 4.5 points in their division.

Those who lost in the final round were Lore Laceste to Daniel Zamarbide Inarrea of Spain, Nelson Mariano III to Ivan Salgado Lopezof Spain, and Vic Neil Villanueva to Gudmundur Kjarstarsson of Iceland.

Laceste, Mariano and Villanueva all finished with 5.5 points and finished 57th, 50th and 48th in their respective divisions.