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SUBIC—On
a day the vaunted Chinese delegation unraveled its full
might, GM Wesley So kept Filipino pride alive by
humbling Haoxiang Jia of China and staying in contention
after six rounds in the $40,000 Philippine Open
international chess championship at the Subic Bay
Exhibition and Convention Center here on Saturday.
Less
than a day after dropping what he termed as “a drawish
endgame” against Weiqi Zhou of China in the fifth round,
So promptly recovered lost ground and vaulted into a tie
for fourth to seventh places with compatriot NM Rolando
Nolte, top seed Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran and GM
Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia.
So’s
masterful triumph over Weiqi provided one of the few
bright spots for the Filipinos, who were relegated to
the background by the strong showing of the 14-man
Chinese delegation backstopped by Zhou and 2007
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup champion Li Chao.
Overall,
the Chinese posted six wins, six draws and only two
losses in the sixth round.
Weiqi
stood at the forefront of the Chinese’s assault,
following up his stirring win over So in the fifth round
with another solid triumph over Megaranto in the sixth
round to assume the solo lead with 5.5 points with five
wins and one draw.
Li
bounced back from a sorry loss to Megaranto in the fifth
round as he whipped GM-candidate Julio Catalino Sadorra
in the following round to share second to third places
with GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam with five points.
Le, one
of the three Vietnamese seeing action in this 76-player,
six-nation championship, subdued GM Rogelio Antonio Jr.
in another marquee match watched by a sizable weekend
crowd which included National Chess Federation of the
Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch’ Pichay.
So, the
reigning Dubai Open champion, and NM Rolando Nolte are
the highest-placed Filipinos with 4.5 points in the
tough, 11-round tournament organized by the NCFP and
sponsored by the Department of Tourism and the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority.
Nolte
continued his surprisingly strong showing when he halved
the point with Maghami.
Nolte,
who is seeking his second GM norm, held his ground
against foreign opponents. He won over GM Nguyen Anh
Dung of Vietnam and IM Dede Liu of Indonesia and drew
with Le and Xiaohui Wang of
China.
IM
Richard Bitoon outclassed Emmanuel Senador, IM Barlo
Nadera toppled GM Dao Thien Hai of
Vietnam and Dino Ballecer split the point with IM Zaw Htun
Wynn of
Myanmar
to join Antonio, Sadorra and six foreign players in a
big group with four points.
Fast-rising Jan Emmanuel Garcia of Ateneo and Karl
Victor Ochoa of Bulacan State University also pulled
minor reversals by beating their older and more
experienced rivals.
Garcia
shocked IM Chito Garma, while Ochoa bested Victor Lluch
to improve to three points. |
