ALWAYS relying on his vast experience, Filipino Belsar Valencia kept his winning streak, this time dominating the just concluded 2019 Edmonton Chess Championship last March 3 in Edmonton City, Alberta, Canada.
Valencia, who hails from La Union, defeated Canadian Jeff Reeve, 1.5.-0.5, in the finals en route to the Edmonton Chess Championship title for the third time. He earned the trophy with an undefeated record.
Valencia won his first game match against Reeve after 77 moves of King's Indian defense fianchetto variation then halved the point in the second match after 41 moves of Sicilian defense, Najdorf- Adams Attack variation.
On the road to the finals, the Edmonton, Canada based Valencia needed to beat Yash Darvekar, 2-0, in the Round-of-16, Aaron Sequillion, 1.5-0.5, in the quarter-finals and Peter Kalisvaart, 1.5-0.5, in the semifinals to arranged a titular showdown with Reeve.
Another Filipino Canada based Zulfikar Sali from Zamboanga City made the country proud anew. He already obtained his Canadian National Master title last year. He finished tied for 3rd (4.5/6 points) along with International Master (IM) Raymond Kaufman and Davaa-Ochir Nyamdorj in the 2019 British Columbia Open Chess Championship held last February 16 to 18 at the Executive Plaza Airport Hotel in Richmond, Canada.
Fide Masters (FMs) Grigory Morozov and Tanraj Sohal took the 1-2 position with 5 points apiece.-Marlon Bernardino-
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