Jem Garcia rules Lomibao Open Rapid chessfest

FILIPINO International Master (IM) Jem Garcia continued to pound strong results after he topped the Woman FIDE Master (FM) Sherie Joy Lomibao Open Rapid Chess Tournament at the Pavilion of the Greenfield District in Mandaluyong over the weekend.

The 29-year-old Olympiad veteran stunned Grandmaster (GM) Daniel Quizon in the ninth and final round to finish with an impressive score of 8.5 points and claiming the top purse worth P20,000 courtesy of Ms. Lomibao, a former national women’s champion and Olympiad mainstay.

GM Joey Antonio took second place after beating FIDE Master David Elorta in the last round edging IM Michael Concio, Jr., who turned back FM Alekhine Nouri, via tiebreak after they ended up with eight points apiece.

Mr. Concio wound up third.

It was another solid showing for Mr. Garcia, the current Ateneo chess head coach who emerged as the best Filipino performer in the Open section of Asian Individual Chess Championships in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates early this month.

There, Mr. Garcia finished 41^st out of 150 participants with five points, which included shock wins over GMs V Pranav and Abhijeet Gupta of India and draws with GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia and Vuppala Prraneeth of India.

Rounding out the top 10 were FMs Christian Mark Daluz and Chester Neil Reyes with 7.5 points each, and Messrs. Elorta, Quizomn, Lennon Hart Salgados, Kevin Arquero and Bob Jones Liwagon with seven points apiece. — Joey Villar