Labuac wins, Diano falters in World Open chess
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2022
MANILA---Manileño Ediberto "Ejhay" Labuac once again showed that Pinoy chessers are top world athletes after he finished in a tie for second place in the tough 50th annual World Open Chess Championship Under 2200 section held at the Sheraton Hotel Downtown in Philadelphia, USA, on July 4, 2022.
With the victory, Labuac's performance boosted the nation's morale, said Filipino American Donato "Gerry" Gamaro, an engineer and a golfer from Queens, New York, a close confidante of Labuac.
“Once again our flag has been raised in this foreign land after knowing that our Filipino kababayan Ediberto "Ejhay" Labuac finished in a tie for second place,” he said.
Labuac, a former stalwart of National University chess team defeated Ali Mirafzali in the ninth and final round to score 7.5 points, the same output of Sounak Bagchi and Ahmet Shapiro-Erciyas.
After the tie break points was applied, Bagchi settle second, Shapiro-Erciyas wound up third while Labuac landed at fourth. Each of them received USD 3,666.67 for their efforts.
While the New York based and Mauban Quezon Province native Labuac is happy with his win, the Cebuano ace and New Jersey resident Eden Diano is sad since he failed to score his last round assignment against eventual winner Pranav Pem.
Pem took the title plus the top prize of USD 12,000 for accumulating 8.0 points.
Diano remains at 7.0 points and dropped to a tie at 5th to 9th places. He pocketed USD 975 for finishing 7th.-Marlon Bernardino-
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