PANABO City’s Jayson Salubre yielded just a draw in seven rounds to rule the Blitz Open category of the 2019 Cagayan de Oro City Fiesta Chess Tournament, over the weekend, at the Limketkai Mall here.

Salubre (6.5 pts) finished ahead of Cagayan de Oro’ s Ubanan and Iligan City’ s FM Victor Bruce Lluch who shared second and third places with a similar 6 points output.

For his feat, Salubre bagged the P5,000 top purse, while Ubanan and Lluch received P3,000 and P2,000 each.

Surprise finisher is Cagayan de Oro’s veteran campaigner Cleto “Bong” Vasquez who made it to the top-10 circle with 5.5 points to show.

“May asim pa si Bong (Vasquez) maong mag-uban ‘mi sa tatluhan team tourney karong September in Iligan,” said newly-crowned Abu Dhabi champion Jaime Joshua Frias II.

Davao City’s Jay Bulicatin led the 5.5 pointers (Arian Belly Calido, Vasquez, John Ray Batucan) with fellow Davawenyo John Christian Lesaca fronting a big bunch of 5-point scorers, including Joker Maestrado, NM Levi Mercado, Jake Gonzales, Jefte Crebillo, Bryan Jose, Jeriel Manlimbana, Frias and Dr. Wil Maghanoy.

Arbiter Jun Cuizon said close to 100 players have participated in the rapid blitz event as a prelude to the cash-rich team tourney of the pre-fiesta chess event fully supported by Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno.