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Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Paragua downs 4 GMs
By Glenn C. Michelena
REVVING up his engine to full throttle for the upcoming Ho Chi Minh SEA games in December, national chess phenom Mark Paragua made the Philippines proud anew Saturday in copping the solo second spot of the recently concluded 2nd Evry International Blitz Chess Championship at Marie de Evry, Evry, France last.
Paragua, a 19-year old IM from Tondo, scored ten out of a possible 13 wins in the tourney, quite a feat considering the level of talent of the competition, and beat four GMs en route to his stellar finish.
Among the highlights of Paragua’s impressive campaign was his 9th-round win over 1993 World Junior Champion super GM Igor Miladinovic of Greece, who has FIDE rating of 2609 and the eventual champion of the tournament.
Miladinovic, with an ICC rating of over 3400 and widely regarded as one of the best blitz players in the world and on the Internet Chess Club, suffered his only defeat at the hands of the young Paragua during their 9th-round encounter.
Paragua, who has an ELO rating of 2500 and is chasing a GM title, also notched big wins over notable opponents in Perennial World Championship qualifier GM Andrei Istratescu of Romania ( with aFIDE rating of 2595), GM Viktor Moskalenko of Ukraine (2529) and GM Bogdan Lalic of England, formerly of Croatia (2503).
The tournament attracted a total 86 players, including 16 with GM titles. Swedish WGM Pia Cramling, 2003 European Womens Champion who topped the Rapid event on October 5, was also among the entries.
Paragua, the 1998 former World U-14 Rapid Champion and back-to-back Natl. Junior Champion IM, finished the tournament with a record of 9 wins, two losses and drew two matches.
His other wins are to 2001 French Blitz Champion Thal Abergel (FIDE rating of 2430), IM Luc Bergez of France (2393), Iranian no.1 IM Amir Bagheri (2541), Eric Cormon ot France, and former 1992 World U-10 Chapion FM Adrien Leroy of France (2234).
He lost, however, to GM Vladislav Nevednichy of Romania (2575) and to former Russian Junior Champion GM Andrei Schekachev (2522), and drew with GM Vladimir Burmakin of Russia (2590) and to France’s Samy Shoker (2273).
“The field was tough and I haven’t been practice in blitz for a while. The last time I had practiced blitz games was against pareng Ronald Dableo, who is a good blitz player,” said Paragua.
“I need to practice with this time control for my SEA Games preparation. I am concentrating in rapid games because my pace has slowed.
“But in blitz pwede na as was shown by my super-GM performance in this tournament of 2638.
(October 8, 2003 issue)
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