Pinoy GM shines in India

MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa drew with Ziaur Rhaman of Bangladesh in the 10th and final round to rule the 19th International Open Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2014 in Kolkata, India recently.

Barbosa, 27, wound up with an undefeated record of 7.5 points five victories and five draws in this 10-round tournament that drew participation from a total of 27 GMs including top seed Nigel Short of England.

The Pasig City native actually ended up tied for first with GM M.R. Babu Lalith of India, who downed countryman Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, but Barbosa ended up with better tiebreaker, 56.5-55, and a higher performance rating, 2688-2655.

By virtue of his strong performance, Barbosa will earn 16 rating points and should see his rating rise from 2564 this month to 2580 in FIDE's next monthly rating list this April.
Barbosa's recent triumph should put him in good stead as he shoots for a spot in the Phl team plunging into action in the 41st World Chess Olympiad slated from Aug. 1 to 15 in Tromso, Norway.

To date, Barbosa is currently one of the country's strongest and higher-ranked players as he is running third behind United States-based Wesley So and Julio Catalino Sadorra with ratings of 2738 and 2598, respectively.

Interestingly, the same player Barbosa split the point in the last round, Rhaman, was the only player who dealt Short, a former World Championship Challenger, his one and only defeat in the tournament, which came in the third round.