Ochoa stuns masters in PH bullet chess leg

MANILA, Philippines – Unheralded Karl Ochoa won his last 5 games to upstage titled players and rule the seventh leg of the 1st Philippine Bullet Chess Championship on Saturday, May 2.

The 29-year-old Ochoa, a former World Youth Chess campaigner, included touted Fide Master Sander Severino among his victims in the 20th and final round to join the roster of winners in the online series organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines to keep players busy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ochoa wound up with 15.5 points to best International Master (IM) Jan Emmanuel Garcia, who led by two points halfway through, and fourth leg winner IM Daniel Quizon.

Garcia, chess program head at the Ateneo de Manila University, and Quizon, the 2019 Asian Junior blitz king, both tallied 15 points but the former emerged with the better tiebreak.

It was the first major victory for Ochoa, who has clinched at least 10 titles in smaller online tournaments after topping a 2200 classical tournament in the United States in 2004.

Ochoa, coach of students in Calumpit, Bulacan, also prevailed over FM Alekhine Nouri, IM John Marvin Miciano, Grandmaster (GM) Joey Antonio, third leg winner IM Joel Pimentel, Quizon, and IM Paulo Bersamina, the back-to-back winner of the fifth and sixth legs.

The eighth edition of the 10-leg tournament being supported by the Philippine Sports Commission will be held on Saturday, May 9.

Ochoa, first leg winner GM Rogelio Barcenilla, second leg victor Jerome Angelo Aragones, Pimentel, Quizon, and Bersamina have secured slots to the semifinals of the event staking a total of P200,000. – Rappler.com