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2ND PHILIPPINE OPEN INTERNATIONAL
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2ND PHILIPPINE OPEN CHESS CHALLENGE
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Top seed Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami and Filipino GM Wesley So face off at the opening of the 2nd Philippines International Open in Subic. Looking on are National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero Pichay, NCFP secretary-general Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino and other NCFP directors, World Chess Federation Secretary General Ignatius Leong, Asian Chess Federation Deputy President Casto Abundo and SBMA Deputy Administrator for Business Group Raul Marcelo .
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SUBIC – With surprise leader Weiqi Zhou and GM Li Chao providing the fireworks before drawing their match, IM Richard Bitoon emerged as the biggest winner on Mother’s Day in the seventh round of the US$40,000-Philippine Open international chess championship at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center here Sunday.
Bitoon, one of the most underrated players in a long list of Filipino chess heroes, essayed a morale-boosting 51-move triumph over IM Zaw Htun Wynn of Myanmar in 51 moves of the Philidor defense to join GM Wesley So as the highest-placed Filipinos with five points.
More importantly, the win revived Bitoon’s chance of winning the US$6,000 top prize in this prestigious tournament which attracted 73 players, including 37 from China , Indonesia , Vietnam , Myanmar , Iran and Malaysia .
"Swerte lang. Sana magtuloy-tuloy na" said Bitoon.
Zhou, the same untitled player who put an end to the near-flawless performance of So in the fifth round Friday, and Li battled furiously like there’s no tomorrow and agreed to a draw in a rook and pawn ending.
Both Zhou and Li reached the endgame with one rook and two pawns each.
The draw enabled Li, the 21-year-old Aeroflot ( Moscow ) Open champion early this year, to keep the solo lead with six points going into the final four rounds of this tough, 11-round tournament.
Li, who finished ninth overall in the inaugural edition of this tournament last year, also maintained his hold of second place with GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia and GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam with 5.5 points.
Megaranto crushed Rolando Nolte while Le also agreed to draw with top seed GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran to stay within striking distance with 5.5 points.
Maghami, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2604, has five points.
In the highly-anticipated all-Filipino encounter, So and Rogelio Antonio Jr. battled to a draw after 27 moves of the Sicilian Rossolimo.
Both Antonio, who played white, and So have a rook, bishop, knight and five pawns each when the game was agreed drawn.
Although the game lacked the fireworks that marked their previous encounter in the 12-player “Battle of GMs” which So won, the match was well played with both sides playing accurately to negate each other’s efforts to gain any upper hand.
With the draw, So remained with five points and Antonio lagged behind with 4.5 points .
The two Filipino champions, however, stayed in contention for the US$6,000 grand prize out of the total of US$40,000 put up by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) under president Prospero “Butch” Pichay and secretary-general Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
Comebacking GM Buenaventura “Bong” Vilamayor also moved in contention with 4.5 points by humbling Rustum Tolentino and Jayson Salubre in the sixth and seventh rounds.
Also with the same score of 4.5 points were IM Barlo Nadera and GM Morteza Mahjoob of Iran, who agreed to a draw; and IM Sadikin Irwanto of Indonesia and WIM Xiaowen Zhang of China, who also split the point.
Little-known David Elorta was another surprise winner for the Filipino side, beating Haoxiang Jia of China to hike his total to four points.
Late Saturday, the vaunted 14-player Chinese delegation headed by Weiqi Zhou and 2007 President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup champion Li Chao, finally unraveled its full might by posting six wins, six draws and only two losses.
(One of the two losses, however, was inflicted by So against untitled Haoxiang Jia.)
The Chinese’s superb sixth-round showing relegated the Filipinos to the background and immediately brought back memories of last year’s inaugural RP Open tournament where top seed GM Wang Yue and four other Chinese players dominated by finishing in the top five places.
Weiqi stood at the forefront of the Chinese’s assault, following up his stirring win over So in the fifth round with another solid triumph over Megaranto in the sixth round.
Li bounced back from a sorry loss to Megaranto in the fifth round as he whipped GM-candidate Julio Catalino Sadorra the following .round.
Le, one of three Vietnamese in the fold, also produced a loud noise Saturday by beating Antonio in another marquee match watched by a sizable weekend crowd which included NCFP president Prospero “Butch’ Pichay.
Nolte continued his surprisingly strong showing when he halved the point with Maghami in the sixth round.
Nolte, who is seeking his second GM norm, is creating a stir by holding his ground against foreign opponents. He won over GM Nguyen Anh Dung of Vetnam and IM Dede Liu of Indonesia and drew with Le and Xiaohui Wang of China .
IM Richard Bitoon outclassed Emmanuel Senador, Nadera toppled GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam and Dino Ballecer split the point with IM Zaw Htun Wynn of Myanmar in other notable sixth-round matches..
Fast-rising Jan Emmanuel Garcia of Ateneo and Karl Victor Ochoa of Bulacan State University also pulled minor reversals in the sixth round by beating their older and more experienced rivals.
Garcia shocked IM Chito Garma, while Ochoa bested Victor Lluch to improve to three points.
In all-female encounters, national women’s champion Cristy Bernales trounced WIM Irine Sukandar of Indonesia and Catherine Perena beat Kimberly Jane Cunanan.
Other sixth-round results: IM John Paul Gomez overpowered Efren Bagamasbad, IM Ronald Bancod dumped Arlan Cabe, Xu Deshun of China downed Reggie Olay, IM Salor Sitanggang outplayed Rustum Tolentino, NM Adrian Pacis stopped Haridas Pascua, Fernandito Pialan repulsed Hamed Nouri, and Aices Salvador toppled IM Aung Aung of Myanmar.
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