GM Oliver Barbosa of the Philippines won the 4th Odisha International GM Open Chess Tournament held 29 May to 5 June at the Kiit University in Bhubaneswar in Kiit Road, Patia Bhubaneswar, India.

In photo above, National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. congratulates Barbosa in an earlier victory also in India. In photo are, from left, GM Mark Paragua, NCFP Executive Director GM Jayson Gonzales, Barbosa, Pichay, GM John Paul Gomez and NCFP Treasurer Red Dumuc.

Barbosa defeated erstwhile solo leader Russian GM Nikolai Chadaev in the eighth round then scored back-to-back draws in the last outings enroute to the coveted title.

The Taytay, Rizal native Barbosa earned the top prize worth Rs 2,00,000 India Rupee (roughly US$3,740 or P160,000) from the total pot prize of Rs  11,16000.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Secretary-General Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino Jr., said that Barbosa completed the 10-round Swiss System scoring  an exceptional  8.5 points out of 10 (7 wins and 3 draws) with a performance rating of 2648 and  a  +14.4 gain in rating points to climb closer to the 2600 goal.

"I thank the supporters of Philippine chess, namely NCFP Chairman/President (Prospero) Pichay, Secretary-General (Abraham) Tolentino , PHL Team Manager Atty. (Ruel) Canobas, PSC and POC," said Barbosa who settled for 2 consecutive draws against GM Deep Sengupta of India in the ninth and penultimate round and IM Sahaj Grover of India in the tenth and final round, respectively.

Barbosa and two other Philippine GMs  are schedule to participate in the “5th Mayor’s Cup International Open Chess Tournament Mumbai”  on June 7 to 15 in Mumbai, India. -Marlon Bernardino-

Final Standings:

8.5 points---GM Oliver Barbosa (Philippines)

8.0 points---GM Nikolai Chadaev (Russia), IM Sahaj Grover (India), GM Hoang Thanh Trang (Hungrary), GM Evgeniy Podolchenko (Belarus), IM Suri Vaibhav (India)

7.5 points---IM Vishnu Prassana V (India), GM Andrei Deviatkin (Russia), IM Das Debashis (India), GM John Paul Gomez (Philippines), GM Aleksej Aleksandrov (Belarus), GM Deepan Chakkaravarthy J (India), IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh R (India)

7.0 points---GM Mark Paragua (Philippines), GM Deep Sengupta (India), Himail Gusain (India), IM Venkatesh MR (India), FM Gosh Diptayan (India), FM Rajesh VAV (India), GM Laxman RR (India), IM Priyadharshan K (India), IM Anita Gara (Hungrary), WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (India), Arun Karthik R (India)