Barbosa shares lead in Indonesia Open

NEWLY-installed Filipino Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa demolished FM Awam Wahono of Indonesia last Friday for his third straight victory in the Indonesia Open Chess Championship held at the Lamerieden Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Taytay, Rizal ace, crafted the win with the advantageous white pieces to create a three-way tie for first with GM Li Chao of China and GM Vladislav Tkachiev of France.

Barbosa earlier beat WGM Sopiko Guramishvili of Georgia in the second round.

Li, on the other hand nipped GM Cao Sang of Vietnam while Tkachiev routed GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia.

Eight woodpushers are among those with 2.5 points including top seed GM Wang Yue (2716) of China, GMs Mark Paragua and Richard Bitoon of the Philippines, GM Alexander Shabalov of the USA, GM Sandro Mareco of Brazil, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India, IM Karen Grigoryan of Armenia and IM Tirta Chandra Purnama.

Wang whipped FM Kasmiran of Indonesia, Paragua outclassed WFM Dewi Citra of Indonesia, Bitoon drew with Ganguly, Shabalov crushed Jofar Sofyan of Indonesia, Mareco split the point with Purnama and Grigoryan upset GM Zhao Jun of China.

GMs Wesley So, Eugene Torre, John Paul Gomez, Darwin Laylo and IM Oliver Dimakiling are tied at 12th to 32nd places with 2.0 points each while GMs Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., and untitled Emmanuel Emperado shares 33th to 49th placers with 1.5 points apiece. FM Mari Joseph Turqueza is at joint 50th place with 1.0 point.

The event is one of the strongest chess tournaments held in Indonesia with 80 woodpushers including 24 GMs from 16 countries competing.

The tournament offers a total prize fund worth $55,000 with the winner getting $10,000 and the runner-up receiving $6,000.

Cah prizes will also go to the top 20 finishers. /Correspondent MARLON BERNARDINO