Barbosa, Gomez still up in India

FILIPINO Grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and John Paul Gomez racked up two straight victories yesterday to keep their share of the lead with Uzbek GM Marat Dzhumaev after five rounds of the 10th Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament 2012 at the Ludlow Castle Sports Complex in New Delhi, India.

Barbosa stunned GM Thipsay Praveen M of India in the fourth round then followed it up with another sterling victory against IM Ashwin Jayaram of India in the fifth to raise his total to 5.0 points, the same output of Gomez and Dzhumaev.

Gomez, who is fresh from a runner-up finish in the SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament in Chennai, India over the weekend, dismantled Sekar B and FM Ghosh Diptayan of India while Dzhumaev toppled Indians Gusain Himal and IM Vaibhav Suri.

Three Indian International Masters (IMs), Lalith Babu M R, Thejkumar M S and Rathnakaran K are tied at 4th to 6th places with 4.5 points each.

In the sixth round, Barbosa handles the black pieces against Dzhumaev on Board 1; Gomez also plays with black against Lalith Babu M R on Board 2 while Thejkumar M S battles Rathnakaran K on Board 3.

Meanwhile, GM Mark Paragua defeated IM Praveen Kumar C of India in the fourth round then split the point with Bitan Banerjee of India in the fifth for 4.0 points, good for a share of 7th to 35th spots.

However, GM Richard Bitoon of Cebu suffered back-to-back loses to FM Ghosh Diptayan and Hemant Sharma of India as the pride of Medellin, Cebu remained stuck at 3.0 points good for 73rd to 139th place.

Paragua will use the white pieces against Narayanan S L of India on Board 11 while Bitoon hopes to bounce back into contention with black against Srikanth K of India on Board 38.

The Pinoys’ India chess campaign is a part of the Philippine Team’s preparations for this year’s 38th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino