FIDE master candidate Anton Paolo Del Mundo demolished Grandmaster Mark Paragua in the fifth and final round for a tie at first place along with three others in the recently concluded 39 th annual Atlantic Open, a chess event held in Westin Hotel in Washington DC last August 24-26.
Del Mundo tied for first with three others namely, IM Benjamin Finegold, IM Mikhail Zlotnikov, and US Master Chris J. Mabe, all scoring 4 points in 5 rounds. Each of them will receive the cash prize of US$1,200.
Del Mundo has topped three notional chess events in a period of two months. He emerged co-champion of the Under 2400 Section at the World Open last July, and followed up that feat by being the first Filipino to win the US Open, a prestigious event held for the past 108 years. And now as the month of August draws to a close, he lands first place in the Atlantic Open. This is perhaps the best consecutive performances by a Filipino in the mainland US.
Paragua, the country's No. 3-ranked player, earned an Elo rating of 2525 and showed a strong performance with 3.5 points out of 4, and had the chance to be the solo champion and receive US$2,000 except for a sorry loss in the final round to Del Mundo. He drew with eventual co-champion IM Finegold in 5 moves in the fourth round, which proved fatal because of the unexpected loss.
The big chess event in Washington DC was well-attended, and strong players like IM Emory Tate, IM Brian Smith, IM Justin Sarkar among 97 players in the Open, were out of contention before the last round.
(Report from MARLON BERNARDINO)
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