5 Pinoy chessers lead Bangkok tilt

GRANDMASTERS Oliver Barbosa, Mark Paragua, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., and Fide Master Hamed Nouri extended their winning run into the third round of the Bangkok Chess Club 2013 in Pattaya, Thailand, yesterday.

Barbosa beat IM Kjetil Stokke of Norway; Paragua subdued IM Manuel Bijaoui of France; Antonio dumped WGM Irina Bulmaga of Romania while Nouri upset GM Gao Rui of Chinan to tally 3.0 points.

Earlier, Barbosa defeated Thanatipanonda Thotsaporn and FM Teerapabpaisit Wisuwat of Thailand; Paragua bested Hj Azahari Md Aliuddin of Brunei and countryman FM Deniel Causo; Antonio outplayed Ron Hoffman of the Netherlands and Timo Tuomala of Finland and Nouri smashed Yutithamnon Surapole of Thailand and Gonzalez Gonzalez Alfonso of Spain.

Also with 3.0 points are IM Roy Saptarshi of India who shocked top seed GM NIgel Short of England; GM Jan Gustafsson of Germany who beat IM Thejkumar M. S. of India; GM Humpy Koneru who blasted IM Max Illingworth of Australia; GM Hansen Sune Berg of Denmark who outplayed IM Akshat Khamparia of India; GM Zhao Zong-Yuan  of Australia who nipped IM Maxim Lavrov of Russia; IM Wan Yunguo of China who beat FM Aguera Naredo Javier of Spain; IM Wang Chen of China who downed IM Daniel Contin of Italy; GM Attila Czebe of Hungrary who outpointed Yeoh Li Tian  of Malaysia and GM Ralf Akesson of Swewden who waylaid IM Mas Hafizulhelmi of Malaysia.

Meanwhile, GM John Paul Gomez and GM Darwin Laylo drew with Ma Zhonghan of China and FM Juhasz Kristof of Hungrary, respectively to lead the huge group of 2.5 pointers.