15 year old IM Mark Paragua captured the title in the Ernie Baltazar Millenium Open Chess tournament - side event of the P1,000.00 Millenium Chess Tournament.
Paragua finished with 6 wins and a draw to bag the top prize of P15,000 in the seven round Swiss system tournament. National Master Reggie Olay of Davao was solo second with 5.5 points. National Master Efren Bagamasbad finished in a tie with Winston Joseph Silva of Davao City for 3rd to 4th place with five points. Randy Segarra of De La Salle University finished with 4.5 points for solo fifth place. The Philippine Chess Federation award the title of National Master to Winston Silva and Randy Segarra for finishing in the top 5 of the standings The tournament attracted a total of 25 players including 1 international master 8 national masters 10 candidate master and 1 national women master.Carlito Lavega of Bacolod City finished 6th in a tie with two others. Also with the same score were Catalino Sadorra of Cavite and Fernando Reantosa.
