Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Mark Paragua drew with American GM Alexander Stripunsky in the final round to emerge over-all champion in the St. John's Masters Chess Championships held May 20 at the Marshall Chess Club in New York, USA.

The 2003 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games most bemedalled athlete with three golds finished undefeated and tallied 3.5 points in four outings, half a point ahead of GM Stripunsky, GM Michael Rohde, International Master (IM) Justin Sarkar, IM Jay Bonin and US Master Adam Samuel Maltese with 3.0 points each.

Paragua is currently playing in the on-going 17th annual Chicago Open at the Westin Chicago North Shore Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Paragua, the 1998 World Rapid Under-14 champion, has so far collected notched 3.0 points after four rounds of the Chicago Open to climb into a tie for 4th to 10th spots along with compatriot GM Darwin Laylo, GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Alexander Yermolinsky of the United States, GM Gilberto Hernandez of Mexico, GM Tigran Petrosian of Armenia and his fifth round opponent GM Yuri Shulman, the 2008 US Open Champion.

Laylo meets fellow GM Petrosian in the fifth round.

GM Alonso Zapata of Mexico, GM Nikola Mitkov of Macedonia and GM Atanas Kolev of Bulgaria share the lead with 3.5 points apiece.

In Italy, Fide Master Virgilio Vuelban from Cagayan de Oro City, finished tenth with 5/9 in the just concluded XXVI Festival Internationale Isola d’Elba. Vuelban also placed second in the blitz version of the tournament. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino