FIVE players, four of them grandmasters, emerged locked in a five-way tie for the lead as the drive for the title continues to heat up going into the homestretch of the 2015 Philippine International Chess Championship at the Subic Peninsular Hotel, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in Olongapo City.
Standings after seven rounds (Open Division)—Demchenko (RUS), Gupta (IND), Shomoev (RUS), Lin (CHI), Deepan (IND) 5.0, Zubov (UKR), Savchenko (RUS), Sunilduth Lyna (IND), Laylo (PHI), Lu (CHI) 4.5, Sivuk (UKR), Belous (RUS), Torre (PHI) Mozharov (RUS), Antonio (PHI) 4.0, Nolte (PHI), Smirnov (RUS), Puranik (IND), Bersamina (PHI), Kotanjian (ARM) 3.5, Nguyen (VIE), Sean (INA), Abelgas (PHI), Ranola (PHI), Bitoon (PHI), Gotel (PHI), Docena 3.0, Dimakiling 2.5.
Challenger Division (after six rounds)—Mendoza, Salgados 5.0, Morado, Mirano K., Rapanot 4.5, Diaz, Evangelista, Mirano J., Alora, Medina 4.0, Aviles, Bagamasbad, Salcedo 3.5, Miciano, Lim, Doroy, Pidor, Marimla, Bernardo, Ricano 3.0, Polao, Pradas, Romero, Cerezo, Bautista 2.5, Morsalim M., Fagon, Alidani, Graspela, Morsalim S., Vicente 2.0.
Russian GMs Anton Demchenko and Anton Shomoev, Indian GMs Abhijeet Gupta and Chakkravarthy Deepan and International Master Chen Lin of China ended up tied with five points each following a series of reversals and draws in the 6th round late Thursday and the 7th round early Friday.
Demchenko defeatede Ukranian GM Vitaly Sivuk in the 6th round, but settled for a draw against Lin in the seventh to earn a piece of the lead, while top seed Gupta was upset by no. 9 seed Shomoev in the sixth and settled for a draw against Deepan in the 7th.
Shomoev’s win over Gupta and his drawn game with Sunilduth Lyna in the 7th allowed him to tie for the lead. Deepan also had a similar record of a win (against Chinese GM Shanglei Lu) and a draw (against Gupta) in the 6th and 7th rounds, while Lin, who was tied with Gupta after five rounds, settled for successive draws in the previous two rounds.
As the matches in the top four boards in the 7th round all ended in draws, Filipino GM Darwin Laylo and Russian GM Vladimir Belous posted impressive victories to stay in the hunt for the top $5,000 cash prize in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Puregold, Asian United Bank and Burlington Socks.
Laylo, the no. 17 seed, stunned third seed Russian GM in 41 moves of a Slav-Indian, his second win in a row after beating unrated local bet Michael Gotel in the 6th round, to bring his total to 4.5 points in a tie with no. 2 seed GM Alexander Zubov of Ukraine, GM Boris Savchenko of Russia, Sunilduth Lyna and China’s Lu.
Behind them are the five-man group with four points led by Russians GM Vladimir Belous and Mikhail Mozharov and Filipino GMs Eugene Torre and Antonio.
Belous, the no. 6 seed, scored a mild upset against Lu in 44 moves employing the Kingside Fianchetto of the Zukertort Opening, while Mozharov outplayed Vietnamese GM Duc Hoa Nguyen in 32 moves of the Kalashnikov Variation of the Sicilian.
The 18th seed Torre, meanwhile, agreed to a draw with Ukraine’s Sivuk after 57 pushes of the Bogo Indian (Gruenfeld Variation), while Antonio downed NM Roel Abelgas in 40 moves of his pet opening, the Caro-Kann (Two Knights Attack, Mindeno Variation).
In the Challenger Division, Woman Internatonal Master Shania Mae Mendoza and Lennon Hart Salgados turned back their respective opponents to forge a two-way tie for the lead after six rounds.
Mendoza, a many-time age-group champion, outsteadied Jeth Romy Morado after 78 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Chigorin, while Salgados, seeded 4th here, crushed Christopher Diaz in 37 moves of a Pirc Defense.
Morado’s loss dropped him in a three-way tie for the third to fifth places with Kevin Mirano, and top seed Alfredo Rapanot.
Mirano defeated Samson Lim in 63 moves of a Gruenfeld, while Rapanot bounced back behnd a 54-move win over Ferdinand Aviles in their Open Catalan encounter.
