Husband and wife tandem in chess

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

MARY CHRISTINE JOYCE DACAYO-PARAGUA (in photo), wife of grandmaster Mark Paragua, defeated American Calvin Hurst in the ninth and final round to emerged over-all champion in the just-ended 2010 World Open Chess Championships, Under 1200 section was held last June 29 to July 5 at the Valley Forge Convention Plaza in Pennsylvania, USA.

Dacayo-Paragua, a former varsity player of University of the Philippines with a USCF 1091 rating points finished undefeated in the nine round Swiss-system tournament with impressive 8.5 points on account of eight wins and a single draw.

Actually, Dacayo-Paragua took the title after beating fellow 8.5 pointers Vietnamese Tram Pham in the tie break points.

Dacayo-Paragua and Tram Pham, each received US$3,232.50 sharing the top honors in the event jointly organized by husband and wife tandem Bill and Brenda Goichberg of the Continental Chess Association (CCA).

Among the impressive wins of New York-based Dacayo-Paragua against Helen Tran, Calvin Chen, Xinh Ngoc Nguyen, David Braun, Brian Swope, Anthony Greenwood, Valdish Ibeh before beating Calvin Hurst.

Her only draw against co-champion Vietnamese Tram Pham in the fifth round. With her latest feat, Dacayo-Paragua raised her USCF 1091 rating points to 1458.

In the Open section, GM Mark Paragua, the 2003 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games most bemedalled athlete settled a draw with Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly in the final round to finish in a tie for 9th to 19th placers in the huge group of 6 pointers. Mark went home US$862 in this Open section which topped by Czech Republic's GM Victor Laznica with 7.5 points for the top prize of US$17,413.

Another Filipino entry and Chicago resident former Asian Junior champion IM Angelo Young scored 4.5 points.

In the Under 2000 section, New York-based Jan Vincent Paragua, younger brother of GM Mark finished with 6.5 points, the same output of compatriots Rene Ancheta of Chicago and Vitaliano Rafael of New York to settled in a tie for 7th to 21st placers.