Severino settles for second place in Disabled World Chess Championships
THE PHILIPPINES’ Sander Severino faltered in the ninth and final round but still ended up at second place in the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA) World Chess Championships that concluded in Gyumri, Armenia over the weekend.
Mr. Severino, 39, lost his way in the opening and former IPCA winner International Master Andrei Gurbanov of Israel pounced on it to carve out a 20-move victory in the ninth and final round.
Had the many-time Asian and ASEAN Para Games gold medalist just drawn, he would have taken first place and reclaimed the same crown he last won four years back during the pandemic.
Instead, Kazakh FM Alimzhan Ayapov, who drew with FM Illia Lipilin of FIDE refugee team’s FM Illia Ilipin, took the crown with seven points.
Mr. Severino, for his part, dropped to a five-player logjam at No. 2 with 6.5 points but ended up with the highest tiebreaker score to claim the runner-up finish.
James Infiesto, Mr. Severino and the national para team coach, halved the point with Armenian FM Sargis Sargissyan and finished at eighth spot with six points.
Henry Lopez was 16th while Cheyzer Mendoza 17th with 5.5 points each. — Joey Villar