John Richards scored an impressive 6.5 points in seven rounds to top the standings at the end of the Maltco Preliminaries stage from the National Championship.
Richards made sure of sole first place by drawing against veteran Ron Sammut in his last match.
Matthew Saliba was the runner-up, a half-point behind Richards. He won all his games in style, losing only to Richards in the fifth round.
Alfred Demanuele, an octogenarian, produced credible wins against rated opposition to finish in third place on five points, the same as Ian Refalo.
Due to the large turnout of 31 players, the top ten players all made it to the next stage – the Candidates which will be played in July.
Samuel Herd, Ron Sammut, Ray Chircop, Urna Psaila and Matthew Grech qualified after gaining 4.5 points.
They were joined by 14-year old Cosmin Alexa who enjoyed a better tiebreak score over the others who finished on four points.
Standings: 6.5 pts Richards; 6 Saliba; 5 Demanuele, Refalo; 4.5 Herd, Sammut, Chircop, Psaila, Grech; 4 Alexa, Klotz, Cuschieri, Licari, A. Azzopardi; 3.5 J. Gatt, R. Azzopardi, Muscat, S. Gatt; 3 Farrugia, Cassar, Gauci, Galea, Falzon; 2.5 Ancilleri, J. Vella; 2 Conti, Caruana, Borg, Hawk; 1 G. Vella; nil J. Azzopardi.