Chessers bag 2 silvers, bronze

THE  country’s chess players added two silvers and a bronze medal to their collection in the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia.

Filipino Grandmaster John Paul Gomez defeated Malaysian International Master Jimmy Liew in the eighth round then subdued Indon IM Tirta Chandra Purnama in the ninth to tie Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem for first in the Blindfold chess event with 7.0 points.

Le who beat Gomez in the 7th round, was awarded the gold medal via tie break. Another Filipino, GM Darwin Laylo scored 5.5 points for the nroze.

The Filipino tandem of newly-minted GM Oliver Barbosa and WIM Catherine Perena also won silver in the Mixed Piar event behind a Vietnamese pair. /Correspsondent Marlon bernardino