by Marlon Bernardino
Host country, Philippines got its first gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA) 2019 when International Master (IM) Jan Emmanuel Garcia topped the online chess applying 3 minutes with 2 seconds increment competition at the Travellers Hotel, Subic Bay in Zambales on Sunday, December 1, 2019.
Garcia, a program chess manager at the Ateneo de Manila University chess team tallied undefeated score of 5.5 points on account of four wins and three draws in seven outings.
Finishing in second place with a score 5.0 points was International Master (IM) Tuan Minh Le of Vietnam who settled for a silver medal.
On the other hand, International Master (IM) Muhammad Lutfi Ali of Indonesia placed third over-all edging fellow 4.5 pointer another Filipino bet Grandmaster (GM) Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr. in the battle for bronze medal.-Marlon Bernardino-