Paragua 4th

GM Mark Paragua (2526) placed 4th in the Individual Blitz Men category in the 1st World Mind Sports Games that is taking place in China from October 3 to 18.

Actually, Paragua led the pack with 8.5 points going into the semifinal rounds, but completely froze in the semis and finals to content himself at 4th top spot. Paragua lost to GM Yuri Drozdovskij (2587) of Ukraine in the semis and to GM Christos Banikas (2572) of Greece in the finals.

Seeded 28th out of 32-player field, Paragua beat the likes of top-seed GM Wang Yue (2736) and GM Zhou Jianchao (2612) of China and GM Varuzhan Akobian (2606) of USA.

What makes the feat of Paragua sweeter was his victory in the seventh round over IM Martyn Kravtsiv (2549) of Ukraine, the tournament's eventual champion.

Here is Paragua's performance round by round:

Round 1 vs GM Korobov Anton (2605) - Win

Round 2 vs GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan (2599) - Win

Round 3 vs GM Akobian Varuzhan (2606) - Win

Round 4 vs GM Wang Yue (2736) - Win

Round 5 vs GM Drozdovskij Yuri (2587) - Win

Round 6 vs GM Banikas Hristos (2572) - Loss

Round 7 vs IM Kravtsiv Martyn (2549) - Win

Round 8 vs GM Gurevich Mikhail (2634) - Loss

Round 9 vs GM Le Quang Liem (2583) - Win

Round 10 vs GM Zhou Jianchao (2612) - Win

Round 11 vs GM Balogh Csaba (2616) - Draw

Semi-final vs GM Drozdovskij Yuri (2587) - Loss

Final vs GM Banikas Christos (2572) - Loss

Co-Filipino campaigner Rolando Nolte landed in 28th place.

Reigning women's world champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk took the crown in the Individual Blitz Women category.