Haridas Pascua

Haridas Pascua gets GM norm

22nd Abu Dhabi Chess Festival
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Aug. 23-31, 2015

Final Standings
1-5. GM Nils Grandelius SWE 2628, GM Martyn Kravtsiv UKR 2599, GM Baadur Jobava GEO 2664, GM Alexander Areschenko UKR 2661, GM Richard Rapport HUN 2671, 7.0/9

6-9. GM Salem AR Saleh UAE 2595, GM Peter Prohaszka HUN 2602, GM Gawain CB Jones ENG 2647, GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2619, 6.5/9

10-20. GM Eduardo Iturrizaga VEN 2625, GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko UKR 2697, GM Dariuisz Swiercz OL 2617, GM Vladimir Akopian ARM 2647, GM Tigran L Petrosian ARM 2623, GM Suri Vaibhav IND 2552, GM Aleksandar Rakhmanov RUS 2720, GM Sanan Sjugirov RUS 2664, GM Zoltan Almasi HUN 2700, GM Vladimir Onischuk UKR 2618, IM Daniel Sadzikowski POL 2480, 6.0/9

21-35. IM Haridas Pascua PHI 2447, GM Kaido Kulaots EST 2573, GM Vladislav Nevednichy ROU 2549, GM Yuriy Kuzubov UKR 2638, GM Das Debashis IND 2489, GM Evgeny Romanov RUS 2586, GM Dronavali Harika IND 2509, GM Jahongir Vakhidov UZB 2525, GM Baris Esen TUR 2567, GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami IRI 2609, GM Gabor Papp HUN 2601, GM Alexander Kovchan UKR 2605, Kelkar Abhishek IND 2400, GM GN Gopal IND 2562, GM Attila Czebe HUN 2439, 5.5/9

Total of 121 participants

Time Control: 90 minutes play-to-finish with a 30 second increment added after every move starting move 1.

The 22nd Abu Dhabi Chess Festival took place from Aug. 23-31 in the UAE’s capital city. The Abu Dhabi Masters was the main event and more than 50 International Grandmasters participated, with the top seed being Zoltan Almasi of Hungary.

The Swedish Grandmaster Nils Grandelius won his last round game against tough Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian to score the biggest triumph of his life. There was actually a 5-way tie for first but Nils had the most wins and was awarded the first place trophy.

There were some overseas Filipinos playing, like Marvin Marcos, Danny Baltazar, Joseph Galindo and Ernesto Yap, but of course the focus was on Haridas Pascua who is trying hard to get his 3rd and last GM norm.

He faced seven GMs and defeated two of them (Tigran L Petrosian and Vladimir Onischuk). In total he had four wins, three draws and two losses for 5.5/9 and a performance rating of 2618. He engaged in a gritty do-or-die battle in the last round with Hungarian GM Gabor Papp who was trying hard for a win, but after 74 moves they shook hands on a draw and Haridas attained the final norm. With the required three GM norms now in place Haridas is a GM-elect — like IM Ronald Dableo, he has to get his ELO rating up to 2500 before the full title can be awarded to him. With the great fighting spirit he showed in Abu Dhabi, I am sure it will be only a matter of time before “GM” gets appended to his name.

Haridas was born and raised in the town of Mangatarem, Pangasinan, although since his teens our family has resided in Baguio City. He is a graduate of the University of Baguio High School and is presently taking up Information Technology there.

His father Gilbert Pascua was also a chess player. He had a small store in Mangatarem and almost every day there would be chess games and mini tournaments going on there. Haridas used to watch and later on started playing himself.

I believe that Haridas Pascua once he attains the GM title will be the first International Grandmaster from Pangasinan. He has already been cited by the Provincial Board as an inspiration and model of the youth of the province and I hope that the new title will serve as further proof of the abilities of the Filipino youth.

Full article here.

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