Sadorra, 2 others victorious in Western Chess Championship

MANILA, Philippines — United States-based Grandmaster Julio Catalino Sadorra won the recent Western Chess Championship in Southern California to officially become the third Filipino to breach the Elo 2600 mark.

The 27-year-old Sadorra, mainstay of University of Texas at Dallas where he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree (cum laude) last year, tallied 4.5 out of 5.0 points to raise his Fide rating to 2605 in April.

Sadorra followed the footsteps of fellow GM Mark Paragua, the first Filipino to reach the Elo 2600 mark in 2006, and Super GM Wesley So, now world No. 19 with his 2738 Elo.

Another Filipino GM, Oliver Barbosa, also shone by ruling the Kolkata Open in India last week with 7.5 points out of a perfect 10.

Barbosa, also 27, wound up with five wins and five draws in the tournament that lured 27 GMs, including top seed GM Nigel Short of England, 18 IMs and 4 WGMs.

Earlier, Paragua snared the 18th Annual Mid-America Open Chess Championship with 4.0 points out of a perfect 5.0.