So is virtual king of RP chess GMs

03/31/2009

DAPITAN CITY, Zamboanga del Norte — It’s in the bag for defending champion GM Wesley So.

So settled for back-to-back draws with GM-candidates Julio Catalino Sadorra and Richard Bitoon to virtually capture his second straight title and the top purse of P200,000 with only one round left in the 2009 Phoenix Petroleum-Dapitan City “Battle of GMs” chess championship at the Dapitan City Resort Hotel here late Sunday.

The 15-year-old high school student from St. Francis-Cavite halved the point with Sadorra in 36 moves of the French and Bitoon in only 30 moves of the Sicilian Pelican to raise his score to 15 points in this 11-round tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), led by president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay and secretary-general Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino. The event is being hosted by Dapitan City government, headed by Mayor Dominador Jalosjos.

Counting his earlier six victories in the first seven rounds, So has a commanding three-point lead over veteran GMs Eugene Torre and Rogelio Antonio Jr., with only one round remaining.

So also still has one unplayed game against Antonio in the sixth round.

Torre, who showed vintage form in winning the third President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Cup late last year, made the biggest gain with consecutive victories in the ninth and 10th rounds.

Torre outduelled fellow GM Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor in 39 moves of the London opening in the ninth round and GM John Paul Gomez in 46 moves of the Bogo-Indian in the 10th round to bounce back into contention with 12 points

Antonio trounced Gomez in 41 moves of the Benoni but drew with GM Mark Paragua in 31 moves of the Sicilian to forge a two-way tie for second to third places with Torre with 12 points. .

Dresden Olympiad veteran GM Darwin Laylo drew with IM Rolando Nolte in 30 moves of the Center Counter and subdued GM Jayson Gonzales in 33 moves of the Slav to climb into solo fourth place with 11.5 points.

Sadorra drew his matches against So and IM Ronald Dableo to join Gomez with 11 points.

Paragua whipped IM Ronald Dableo in 32 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted to join Bitoon with 10 points.

Gonzales outclassed Bitoon in 37 moves of the Queen’s Gambit in the ninth round before losing to Laylo.

In the women’s division, WFM Shercila Cua and WIM Beverly Mendoza hurdled their respective ninth-round matches and drew against each other in the following round to keep their 1-2 positions with 15 and 14.5 points, respectively.

Cua bested Rida Young in 32 moves of the King’s Indian while Mendoza outlasted Kimberly Cunanan in 78 moves of the Dutch.

Cua and Mendoza then halved the point in 36 moves of the French.

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