SELF-taught David Elorta of Manila edged fellow six-pointer Ellan Asuela of Bacolod City in the Bucholz tiebreaker to top the Individual Open of the Fide-rated chess tournament here yesterday at the Limketkai Mall.
The 40-year-old Elorta scored five wins and yielded just a couple of draws with Asuela in Round 5 and Cebu’s Rommel Ganzon in the last seventh round to pocket the P30,000 top purse and the championship trophy.
“Talagang kompleto ang kargada ko sa opening kapag dumadayo. Kahit na self-learning lang tayo sa chess, malawak na rin ang experience natin,” said Elorta, who made it to the Philippine Chess Team that represented the country in the 30th South East Asian Games in Manila.
The 34-year-old Asuela, last week’s champion in the Lumbia Open here, bagged the 20,000-second prize, while Army man Alfredo Rapanot of Cagayan de Oro received the third prize worth P10,000 also with a trophy.
Rapanot led four others at 5.5 points, including Fide Master Nelson Villanueva, Kevin Arquero, Ganzon, and Sherwin Tiu, but with better tiebreak results.
Completing the top-15 finishers of the three-day chessfest dubbed “Mr. & Mrs. Leo G. Wabe Sr Fide-Rated Memorial Cup” are foreign visitor Avasbek Ishbaev of Uzbekistan, Anthony Mosqueda, Paciano Gulle, Nazario Ubanan, John Christian Lesaca, Christian Gian Karlo Arca, and Arnolito Cadiz who were tied at five points.
