Nouri wins International Classical Chess Festival

PROMISING chess master Hamed Nouri ruled the open division of the 2017 International Classical Chess Festival held at the Putrajaya International Convention Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Nouri collected 6.5 points on four wins and five draws in the nine-round tournament.

He was actually in a four- way tie on top with compatriots International Master ( IM) Oliver Dimakiling and FIDE Master Nelson Villanueva, and Indonesian IM Dede Lioe.

But Nouri took the top honors by virtue of his superior tiebreak points, leaving Dimakiling in second place, Lioe in third and Villanueva in fourth.

Nouri scored victories over FM Nur Najiha Azman Hisman of Malaysia in the first round, Shreye Subramaniam of Malaysia in the second round, IM Hafizulhelmi Mas of Malaysia in the sixth round and untitled Filipino player Ian Udani in the eighth round.

He split the point with Gradmaster Alexander Fominyh of Russia ( third), IM Li Bo of China ( fourth), Filipino IM Emmanuel Senador ( fifth), Dimakiling ( seventh) and Lioe ( ninth).

Nouri bagged the 10,000 Malaysian Ringgit ( RM) top prize while Dimakiling settled for RM 8,000, Lioe pocketed RM 6,000 and Villanueva earned RM 4,000.

Udani was seventh ( RM 1,000) and Senador was ninth ( RM 1,000).

The other Filipino in the tournament was Efren Bagamasbad who wound up 11th in the tournament organized by the Asia Chess Academy.

Christopher Castellano was the best finisher in the 2300 rating to take home the RM 500 consolation purse beating Malaysia’s Jimmy Chee Meng Liew and Uzbekistan’s Daler Vakhidov.

Meanwhile, GM John Paul Gomez and IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia were the best Filipino finishers at 16th place in the 7th HDBank Cup International Open Chess held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Gomez and Garcia scored 5.5 points each in nine round with GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam dominating the tournament with seven points.