Young places eighth in world seniors chess

MANILA, Philippines — International Master Angelo Young drew his 11th and final round game against Brazilian Grandmaster Darcy Lima to finish in the top 10 and the highest placed Filipino in the +50 division of the 2019 World Seniors Chess Championships in Bucharest, Romania Saturday night.

Young, seeded 31st among 138 participants, ended up tied for fifth place alongside 12 others with 7.5 points apiece but wound up eighth overall after the tiebreaks were applied in the tournament topped by Ukrainian GM Vadim Shishkin.

Another Philippine bet, GM Joey Antonio, who was second a year ago in Bled, Slovenia, was a full point behind Young with 6.5 points, which was good for 29th place. Cesar Caturla had seven points in the +65 section for 24th place.

With his eighth-place windup, Young, rated 2288 and an eight-time Illinois champion before deciding to return to the country, gained 64.4 FIDE rating points and a strong tournament performance rating of 2499.

Young was once tied for the lead with Romanian GM Vladislav Nevednichy after six rounds after beating three GMs in a row – former Soviet champions Lev Psakhis of Israel and Artashes Minasian of Armenia and ex Seniors titlist Zuruab Sturua of Georgia.

But he lost to Nevednichy in the seventh round that cost him the lead.