FILIPINO Grandmaster-elect Haridas Burlaza Pascua ended 2017 with a bang as he finished second overall on Wednesday in the Jolimark International Open Chess Championship dubbed as Hong Kong International Open at the Kung Lee College in Hong Kong.
Pascua scored crucial draws in the last three rounds to wrap up his campaign with 7.0 points on five wins and four draws, the same output of eventual 3rd placer GM Zeng Chongsheng of China and 4th placer IM Li Bo of China, whom he beat in the tie break.
He drew with solo champion GM Karen Grigoryan of Armenia in the seventh round, IM Li Bo of China in the eighth and CM Zuo Yifan of China in the ninth and final round.
Grigoryan pocketed HK $10,000; Pascua earned HK $6,000; Chongsheng got HK $5,000 while Li received HK $4,000.
Fide Master and Bangkok-based Pinoy, Deniel Causo won HK $3,000 for finishing fifth with superior quotient in the group of 6.5 pointers that included CM Zuo Yifan of China, FM Zhou Chen of China, GM Wong Meng Kong of Singapore and FM Luis Chan of Australia.
Earlier, Pascua of Mangatarem, Pangasinan defeated Zhia Chen Zachary Lee of Malaysia in the first round, compatriot and newly-installed Asean Master Michael Concio Jr., in the second, Naohiro Nakamura of Japan in the third then drew with Mirai Aoshima of Japan in the fourth.
He beat FM Zou Chen of China in the fifth round and GM Zeng Chongsheng of China in the sixth round before scoring crucial draws in the last three rounds.
This year’s Philippine Open winner, Pascua already completed his three (3) required grandmaster norm/results in the PSC-Puregold International Chess Challenge Open in December 2014, 5th HD Bank Cup International Open in March 2015 and 22nd Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival Masters in August 2015. He just needs to bring his FIDE (World Chess Federation) rating to over 2500 to get the full title. His present rating is 2424.