Pinoy chesser shocks Ehlvest, salvages 4th

MANILA, Philippines - Unheralded Rico Salimbagat turned in an impressive fourth place finish in a strong FIDE-sanctioned, Grandmaster-laden blitz tournament in New York recently.

Coming into the nine-round tournament a virtual unknown with a FIDE rating of 2265, Salimbagat, a Tanauan, Batangas native now based in Queens, New York, surprised the crack field and scored 6.5 points on five victories, three draws and a loss for fourth.

Salimbagat stunned Estonian Grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest, the eventual champion, in the sixth round and drew with Russian GM Igor Sorkin, who wound up second, and top seed GM Alexander Stripunsky, who ended up fifth.

His bowed to Georgian GM Mikhail Kekelidze, who finished third with seven points, in the seventh round.

Ehlvest, Sorkin, Stripunski and Kekelidze boast of  2657, 2538, 2696 and 2635, respectively.

“I’m happy with my performance because I defeated Ehlvest and drew with Sorkin and Stripunski though I was up by a pawn but down in time,” said Salimbagat, a maintenance engineer at the Warwick International Hotel in New York.