Pascua elevated to International Master rank
LINGAYEN–Twenty-year old Haridas Pascua of Mangateram town has become the second International Master (IM) title holder from Pangasinan after placing second in the Dytm Raja Dr. Nazrin International Open Chess Championships (open category) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 3-11, 2014.
The first IM title was earned in 1957 by the late Rodolfo Tan Cardoso of Alaminos City, who has also been recognized by the province through an ASNA Balitok award.
PASCUA
Pascua reached a Tournament Performance Rating (TPR) of 2486 after the competition, surpassing the minimum TPR 2450 required, and aims to further pile up points to reach the Grandmaster title.
“Masaya po ‘yung feeling ng pagkapanalo at makakapag-uwi ka ng karangalan para sa probinsya,” said Pascua, a multi-awarded active participant in Governor Amado Espino Jr.’s series of chess clinic and tournaments.
Pascua said the chess events of the province further honed his skills.
He recorded 5 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss in the Kuala Lumpur competition that was participated in by some 88 chess players from 20 countries.
Espino, for his part, said Pascua’s victory was “another proof of excellence in sports, a product of the sustained efforts in developing sports talents from the grassroots level.”
“The long wait of Pangasinan in producing another international chess sensation is over. All the effort of the province that contributed to Pascua’s victory has finally paid off,” said Pangasinan Chess League (PCL) President Juan Vicente Sison.
Sison cited the dominance of chess players from DepEd Pangasinan 1, 2 and Dagupan City in all categories in the elementary and secondary divisions at the recent Region 1 Athletic Association Meet held in Agoo, La Union last February.
“Our province is big and there are a lot of potential chess players from various schools that are waiting to be discovered and honed. What we have to do is to bring the provincial government’s programs in chess closer to school children, most especially to the poor,” Sison added.—reports from PIO and JAGJr.
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