NEW YORK CITY-- When David Asuncion Apelo copped the 31st Empire City Open (Under 2200) in 2012, the Filipino chesser shared the title with two others.
In the 36th edition held on December 28-30, 2017 at the Hotel Pennsylvania, Asuncion, 59, made sure he was the lone captain in the Empire City Open (Under 2100) ship as he romped off with the championship with 5.5 points in the six-round Swiss System event arranged by the Continental Chess Association.
Apelo (2059), who finished third in the 35th edition in 2016, won $1,000.
He logged five straight wins and drew with second placer Yassamin Leili Ehsani (1986) in the last round.
Apelo, Ehsani, and another Filipino, National Master Mario Rebano, were the only unbeaten players in the tournament.
Top-seeded Rebano (2094), 54, who drew his last match against Anthony Levin (2077), shared third place with Levin and five others with 4.5 points (three wins, three draws).
"I missed the title because of successive draws in the early rounds," quipped Rebano, an engineer, who won two major titles in New York and Connecticut in 2017.
The category attracted 74 players.
Apelo, a former army in the Philippines and champion of the 48th Annual Atlantic Open (Under 2100) title held from August 26-28, 2016 in Arlington, Virginia, thus became the winningest Filipino chess campaigner in the United States in 2017.
Grand Masters (GM) Sergei Azarov (2646) and Alexander Fishbein (2548) shared the title in the major section with 5 points apiece.
The major section had 56 entries that included six GMs, five international masters (IM), and two FIDE masters.
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