CAGAYAN de Oro’s Lennon Hart Salgados has momentarily set aside his chess career to heed the call of duty in service of the Philippine Air Force. But given the opportunity, he played sparingly across the country with some modest success.
In a recent tournament to commemorate the admirable feat of the late Grandmaster Atty. Rosendo Carreon Balinas, the 31-year-old Salgados from Barangay Bonbon, Cagayan de Oro City listed himself among close to a hundred participants.
The 3rd Chess Geek Hub Open Tarlac 2200 and below Fide-rated Rapid Chess Tournament was held over the weekend at the SM Mall in Tarlac City. The former National Shell Active kiddies champion and Palarong Pambansa gold medalist started slow, drawing against Mark Ellor Caluag in the opening round.
Salgados then racked up three-straight wins over Zyluj Ezekiel Gacutan, Dexter Aerol Raguine, and Robert Halili before holding to a draw the top-seeded Kevin Arquero with the black pieces in the fifth round.
There was no stopping Salgados in the last four rounds as he bested Bryle Gever Vinluan, Gelmar Celaje Tuazon, the sixth-seed National Master Darry Bernardo in the penultimate eighth round, and the fourth-seed Samson Chiu Chin Lim III in the ninth and final round to amass eight points for a solo first place finish.
For his feat, the 13th-seed Salgados took home the P7,000 top purse and a plaque.
The 8th-seed NM John Jasper Laxamana tallied 7.5 points for the runner-up P5,000 prize.
Lim edged fellow seven-pointers Anwar Cabugatan and Tuazon in the Bucholz tiebreaker to win the third prize, which is worth P3,000 and comes with a plaque.
Cabugatan and Tuazon settled for fourth and fifth places with P2,000 and P1,000 cash prizes each plus medals.
Rounding up the top 10 finishers were Arquero, Vinluan, Jamler Luis Uy, Kevin Mirano, and Jewello John Vegafria.
They received P700 apiece also with medals.
