INDIA CHESS: GOMEZ, BITOON, PARAGUA PREVAIL IN 5TH ROUND; BARBOSA FALTERS
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 07 Jan 2012
GRANDMASTERS (GMs) John Paul Gomez, Richard Bitoon and Mark Paragua of the Philippines toppled their respective fifth round assignments in the on-going SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament on Saturday in Chennai, India.
The Binan, Laguna bet Gomez crushed FM Gagare Shardul of India, the Medellin, Cebu ace Bitoon nipped Singh S Vikramjit of India while the Bulacan based Paragua hammered Aaditya Jagadeesh of India to stay in contention in the 150 player's field World Chess Federation (FIDE) sanctioned tournament.
Gomez and Bitoon now tallied 4 points and climbed into a share of 11th to 35th placers while Paragua notched 3.5 points for 36th to 72nd placers.
However, another Filipino entry GM Oliver Barbosa wasn't fortunate after yielding to unheralded Chinese player Mu Ke. The Taytay, Rizal star was stuck at 3 points and dropped into a share of 73rd to 123rd placers.
Earlier, Gomez was beaten by IM Vishnu Prasanna of India in the Friday's fourth round; Bitoon dealt WIM Dhar-Barua Saheli of India; Paragua bowed to Narayanan S L of India and Barbosa lost to WFM Mahalakshmi M of India.
Top seed GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Bulgaria smashed IM Rathnakaran K of India to raised his total 4.5 points and create a ten-way tie for first place.
In the sixth round, the Filipino woodpuhers backed up by NCFP, PSC and POC will test the mettle of Indian counterparts as Gomez opposite Navin Kanna; Bitoon versus IM Debashis Das; Paragua will tangle Hemant Sharma and Barbosa goes up against Harini S.
Backed up by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr., Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Ricardo "Richie" Garcia and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, the India chess campaign of Gomez, Paragua, Bitoon and Barbosa is a part of the Philippine Chess Team preparation for this year's 38th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
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