Barbosa wins, Gomez draws match in 10th rd of Chennai Open

GRANDMASTER (GM) Oliver Barbosa yesterday beat IM Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan after 35 moves of King’s Indian defense to stay in contention after 10 rounds of the SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament in Chennai, India.

Barbosa of Taytay, Rizal raised his total to 7.5 points, the same output of countryman GM John Paul Gomez who drew his 10th-round match against GM Hoang Thanh Trang of Hungrary after 29 moves of French defense.

GM Mark Paragua also split the point with IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy of India after 40 moves of Sicilian defense for 7.0 points but GM Richard Bitoon of Cebu lost to IM Nitin S of India after 33 moves of Sicilian defense. Bitoon remained stuck at 6.5 points.

Meanwhile, Yu Ruiyuan of China defeated countryman Zeng Chongsheng after 51 moves of Caro-Kann defense to grab the solo lead with 8.5 points.

Top seed GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus drew with IM Akshayraj Kore of India after 36 moves of Queen’s Gambit declined to tie his victim at second place with 8.0 points.  /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino