Barbosa shines in Washington Chess Congress

MANILA, Philippines - Oliver Barbosa trounced fellow Filipino GM Mark Paragua in the final round to finish tied for first in the Washington Chess Congress at the Hyatt Hotel in Arlington, Virginia recently.

Barbosa scored 5.5 points in the seven-round tournament to tie top seed GM Gata Kamsky and No. 2 GM Sergey Erenberg.

Kamsky, who whipped IM Samuel Sevian in the last round, ended up claiming top honors after edging Barbosa by half a point in the tiebreak.

Erenburg, who was leading going into the final round, fought GM Mikheil Kekelidze to a draw and settled for third.

Barbosa’s runner-up finish came on the heels of Wesley So’s victory in the Millionaire Chess in Las Vegas where he pocketed the top purse of $100,000 or P4.4 million.

The win enabled So to crash the Top 10 ranking in the world from No. 14 in the FIDE live ratings with 2762 rating, thus becoming the first Filipino to make it to the elite circle since GM Eugene Torre made it to the Candidates quarterfinals in 1983.

But So is now playing for the US Chess Federation after he was forced to change federation following a fallout with the Philippines sports and chess officials.

Barbosa posted four wins, including one over GM Elshan Moradiabadi and three draws against Kamsky, Kekelidze and Erenburg.

“I’m starting to regain my confidence after a bad start this year,” Barbosa yesterday told The STAR.

Barbosa said he is scheduled to play in the Boardwalk Open set from Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in New Jersey.