3 Pinoy GMs beat rivals in 5th round of Chennai Open

GRANDMASTERS John Paul Gomez, Richard Bitoon and Mark Paragua of the Philippines toppled their respective fifth round foes yesterday to improve their standings in the ongoing SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament in Chennai, India.

The Binan, Laguna bet Gomez, who lost his share of the lead with a fourth-round loss, crushed FM Gagare Shardul of India; the Medellin, Cebu ace Bitoon nipped Singh S Vikramjit of India while the Bulacan based Paragua hammered Aaditya Jagadeesh also of India to stay in contention in the 150-player, World Chess Federation (FIDE)-sanctioned tournament.

Gomez and Bitoon now has 4.0 points to share 11th to 35th places while Paragua notched 3.5 points for 36th to 72nd spots.

However, another Filipino entry GM Oliver Barbosa wasn’t as fortunate after yielding to unheralded Chinese player Mu Ke. The Taytay, Rizal star was stuck at 3.0 points and dropped into a share of 73rd to 123rd places.

In Friday’s fourth round, Gomez was beaten by IM Vishnu Prasanna of India; Bitoon battered WIM Dhar-Barua Saheli of India; Paragua bowed to Narayanan S L of India while Barbosa lost to WFM Mahalakshmi M of India.

Top seed GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Bulgaria smashed IM Rathnakaran K of India to raise his total 4.5 points and create a 10-way tie for first place.

In the sixth round, the Filipino woodpuhers will test the mettle of Indian counterparts as Gomez battles Navin Kanna; Bitoon plays IM Debashis Das; Paragua tangles Hemant Sharma and Barbosa goes up against Harini S.

The Filipinos’ campaign in the Chennai Open is backed by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Ricardo “Richie” Garcia and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Jose “Peping” Cojuangco.

The tournament is also part of the Philippine Chess Team’s preparation for this year’s 38th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.  /correspondent marlon Bernardino