INDIA CHESS: GOMEZ WINS; BITOON FALTERS
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 08 Jan 2012
GRANDMASTER (GM) John Paul Gomez continues his winning ways to keep the Philippine flag high. However, countryman GM Richard Bitoon yielded in the sixth round of SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament on Sunday in Chennai, India.
The Binan, Laguna bet Gomez toppled Navin Kanna of India to raised his total 5 points and climbed into a share of fifth to 15th placers in the company of GM Martin Kravtsiv of Ukraine, GM Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh, GM Hoang Thanh Trang of Hungrary, Ma Qun and Zeng Chongsheng of China, GM Sheturaman SP, International Masters (IMs) Himashu Sharma, Konguvel Ponnuswamy, Karthikeyan P and Debashis Das of India, conqueror of Bitoon.
With the setback, the Medellin, Cebu ace Bitoon was stuck at 4 points and was dropped into a tie for 41st to 77th placers that inlcudes compatriots GMs Mark Paragua and Oliver Barbosa.
The Bulacan based Paragua split the point with Hemant Sharma of India while the Taytay, Rizal native Barbosa routed Harini S of India.
Top seed GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus, meantime beat IM Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan to scored 5.5 points and create a four-way tie for first place together with GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukraine, IM Vaibhav Suri of India and Yu Ruiyuan of China.
Oleksienko nipped IM Das Neeoltpal of India; Suri crushed IM Vishnu Prasanna of India and Ruiyuan clobbered IM Akshayraj Kore of India.
In the seventh round, Gomez will meet IM Karthikeyan; Bitoon opposite Hemant; Barbosa will play Pradeep Kumar of India while Paragua tangle Navalgund Niranjan of India.
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 is a part of the Philippine Chess Team preparation for this year's 38th World Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Marlon Bernardino.
Recent PhilBoxing.com In-House articles:
Canelo Gets Outboxed, Loses Undisputed Title to Crawford
By Carlos Costa, Sun, 14 Sep 2025A Masterpiece of Boxing: Terence Crawford Dethrones Canelo Alvarez in Historic Showdown
By Dong Secuya, Sun, 14 Sep 2025LEWIS CROCKER IS CROWNED THE NEW IBF WORLD WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION
Sun, 14 Sep 2025Battle of Undefeated: Callum Walsh Vanquishes Fernando Vargas Jr.
By Dong Secuya, Sun, 14 Sep 2025Undercard Inferno: Mbilli and Martinez Deliver a Super Middleweight War Ending in a Thrilling Draw
By Dong Secuya, Sun, 14 Sep 2025Crawford to defy odds?
By Joaquin Henson, Sun, 14 Sep 2025Clash of Titans: The Final Predictions for Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford
By Dong Secuya, Sun, 14 Sep 2025Weigh-In Results: Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev
Sun, 14 Sep 2025Inoue and Akhmadaliev Make Weight for Sunday's Battle, Watch it LIVE on Facebook!
By Carlos Costa, Sun, 14 Sep 2025IIEE North Cotabato and Metro Central are the Golden Champion on 3x3 Basketball and 3x3 Chess
By Marlon Bernardino, Sun, 14 Sep 2025Sydney Sy Tancontian is Female Awardee of Sports Hero of the Year
By Lito delos Reyes, Sat, 13 Sep 2025Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford: Size Matters
By Chris Carlson, Sat, 13 Sep 2025BOOTS TALKS SPARRING WITH CANELO IN ‘DAY IN THE LIFE’
Sat, 13 Sep 2025WEIGHTS FROM LAS VEGAS: CANELO - 167.5 LBS., CRAWFORD - 167.5 LBS.
By Dong Secuya, Sat, 13 Sep 2025BELFAST: WEIGH-IN RESULTS AND FIGHT NIGHT RUNNING ORDER
Sat, 13 Sep 2025