INDIA CHESS: PARAGUA, BITOON WIN; GOMEZ FALTERS
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 09 Jan 2012
GRANDMASTERS (GMs) Mark Paragua and Richard Bitoon of the Philippines toppled their respective rivals in the seventh round of SDAT-RMK 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament on Monday in Chennai, India.
The Bulacan based Paragua defeated Navalgund Niranjan of India while the Medellin, Cebu native Bitoon routed Hemant Sharma of India.
However the sad news is countryman GM John Paul Gomez from Binan, Laguna yielded to IM Karthikeyan of India.
Paragua, Bitoon and Gomez tallied five points apiece, good for a share of 20th to 45th placers.
Karthikeyan, meantime raised his total 6 points, the same output of GM Hoang Thanh Trang of Hungrary, Ma Qun and Zeng Chongsheng of China.
Top seed GM Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus and Yu Ruiyuan of China share the leadership board with 6.5 points each. Aleksandrov nipped IM Vaibhav Suri of India while Ruiyuan upset GM Mikhailo Oleksienko of Ukraine.
Another Filipino entry GM Oliver Barbosa split the point with Pradeep Kumar of India for 4.5 points. The Taytay, Rizal bet is in 46th to 81st placers.
In the eight round, Gomez will meet FM Rajesh of India; Bitoon opposite IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy of India; Paragua will play IM Christian Endre Toth of Brazil and Barbosa goes up against CM Prince Bajaj 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.
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