INTERNATIONAL Master Chito Danilo Garma of the Philippines was crowned as blitz champion in the side event of the FIDE World Senior Chess Championship held at the Hotel Baleira in Porto Santo Island, Portugal.

The 60-year-old Garma of Sampaloc, Manila, registered eight wins and one loss en route to winning the blitz gold medal.

Garma scored victories over Marat Primbetov of Kazakhstan, International Master (IM) Ilgar Bajarani of Azerbaijan, IM Devaki Prasad of India, FIDE Master (FM) Richard Vedder of the Netherlands, IM Aitkazy Baimurzin of Kazakhstan, IM Silvia Alexieva of France, IM Stefan Loeffler of Germany and FM Pablo Alexander Ruiz Aguilar of Colombia but lost to FM Victor Plotkin of Canada in the fifth round.

FM Joachim Wallner of Austria bagged the silver medal while FM Plotkin settled for third place.

Meanwhile, FM Mario Mangubat of Minglanilla, Cebu, won the blitz bronze medal in the 65-over age category with 5.5 points.

Another Filipino entry, International Master Jose Efren Bagamasbad, finished the tournament with 4.0 points.

With five rounds to go in the main tournament, Philippine delegation head and coach Almario Marlon Bernardino Jr. is very confident that Garma, Mangubat and Bagamasbad will perform well in the second half of the standard time control event.

He will be playing against FM Rudolf Meesen of Germany in the seventh round.

In the 65-over category, Mangubat, who will next face IM Daniel Rivera of Uruguay, and Bagamasbad, who will next play IM Nicolas Giffard of France, are tied with 3.0 points in six rounds.