Fil-AM Megan Althea Obrero Paragua ties for second in 11th Annual WIM Ruth Haring National Chess Tournament tilt
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 02 Aug 2023
MANILA---Filipino-American Megan Althea Obrero Paragua finished in a tie for second place at Wednesday's conclusion of the 11th Annual WIM Ruth Haring National Chess Tournament at the DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The New York, USA based Megan Althea, niece of Grandmaster Mark Paragua, defeated 2023 World School Under 9 champion Irene Jiao Fei in the last round to hike her total to 5.0 points on five wins and one loss.
After the tiebreak was applied, however, Megan Althea would finish third overall in the six-round Swiss system tournament.
Also with 5.0 points eventual second-place Jwalanthi Ram.
Topping the tournament was Fide Master Rui Yang who beat Asha Kumar in the final round to finish with 5.5 points.
The 10-year-old Megan Althea is a fifth grader at Columbia Grammar Preparatory School in New York City.
According to Jan Vincent Paragua, the father of Megan Althea and brother of GM Mark, who is also based in New York, her daughter Megan Althea received a $2,000 college scholarship and $450 prize for her efforts.
Megan Althea also finished third in the Weeramantry National blitz chess tournament of state champions 1800-2199 Section at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Meanwhile, New York, USA based Grandmaster Mark Paragua and Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna bow out in FIDE World Cup on Monday, July 31, after succumbing in their opening-round assignments in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Paragua yielded to a higher-rated Grandmaster Jergus Pechac of Slovakia while Frayna bowed to Southeast Asian Games rival International Master Medina Warda Aulia of Indonesia with similar 1.5-0.5 scores to kiss their title chances goodbye in the star-studded competition.
After dropping the first of the two-game duel with the black pieces Sunday, July 30, both Paragua and Frayna went all out for the win with the white pieces but ended up getting outfoxed in the opening and nursed slightly disadvantageous positions.
The pair of heartbreakers left Grandmaster Wesley So, who was born in Cavite but is now representing the United States, in the event that serves as a doorway to the Candidates Matches where the challenger to current world champion Grandmaster Ding Liren of China will be selected.
So drew a first-round bye and will play the winner between Grandmaster Emre Cam of Turkey and Grandmaster Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez of Cuba.-Marlon Bernardino-
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