Megan Paragua places 3rd in US blitz chess tournament

Filipino-American Megan Paragua drew her eighth and final round match on Sunday to finish at third place in the Weeramantry National blitz chess tournament of state champions at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

The New York-based Paragua, niece of Filipino Grandmaster Mark Paragua, tallied 6.5 points on account of five wins and three draws in the 1800-2199 section.

Megan Paragua CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

She ended up tied for second place with five other players but officially earned third place honors after the tie break was applied.

Topping the tournament was Eric Feng who beat Anjaneya Sripathy Rao in the final round to finish with 7.0 points.

Advaith Vijayakumar placed second and Ehsaan Hebbar placed fourth followed by Maxwell Barnes, Minh Binh Tran and Valibhav Rojinjith Kalpaka in this order.

The 10-year-old Paragua is a fifth grader at Columbia Grammar Preparatory School in New York City. She will see action again at the 11th Annual WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions K-12 at the DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Michigan on Monday.

“I hope my daughter Megan Althea Obrero Paragua will also play well in her next chess tournament,” said Jan Vincent Paragua, the father of Megan and brother of GM Mark, who is also based in New York.

The Filipino grandmaster, meanwhile, paid a courtesy call to Consul Ricarte Abejuela 3^rd, Deputy Consul General Adrian Elmer Cruz, and Vice consul Paolo Marco Mapula at the Philippine Consulate in New York City on Wednesday.

GM Paragua was accompanied by United States chess masters Nonoy Rafael and Ernesto Encarnacion.

GM Paragua and Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna are slated to compete in the 2023 FIDE World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan which begins on July 31 (Manila time).

GM Paragua will tackle Slovakian Jergus Pechac in a two-game duel while WGM Frayna goes up against Indonesian International Master Medina Wardan Aulia in the opening round.