Fiery start in Moscow

MOSCOW, Russia — GM John Paul Gomez swept his first two assignments to join the march of the favorites in the 2011 Moscow Open chess championships at the Russia State Social University here Sunday.

Gomez, a member of the Philippine team which bagged the silver medal in the recent Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, defeated untitled Konstantin Stankevich of Russia in the first round and FM Sergey Brjukov of Russia in the second round to gain a share of the lead with two points in this prestigious, nine-round oturnamnwt which attracted 582 players from 34 countries.

The 24-year-old mechanical engineering graduate from La Salle-Taft, who earned his GM title during the 38th World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Olympiad, will meet WIM Natalija Popova of Russia in the third round late Monday.

Another Filipino campaigner, IM Olver Barbosa, trounced untitled Joel Leost of France in the first round and drew with Vissarion Kondratiev of Russia the following round to remain in the hunt with 1/5 points.

Babrosa will next meet Valery Ponomarenko of Russia in the third round.

Top seed GM Denis Khismatullin (ELO 2649) of Russia whipped Nafis Tallipov of Russia and Vitaly Meribanov fo Belarus to take the headstart with two straight victories.

Second seed GM Aelxander Beliavsky (ELO 2634) of Slovenia outclassed Pavel Rozanov and Niklai Mishuchkov of Russia, while third seed GM Maxim Turov (ELO 2631) of Russia humbled Vladimir Dzhangobegov and IM Aleksander Zakharov of Russia to join the leaderboard.

The other early winners were GM Srgey Tiviakov of the Netherlands, Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan and Pavel Maletin, Dmitry Frolyanov, Maxim Latlakov, Dmitry Bocharov and Vladimir Burmakin, all of Russia.

Gomez is seeded 30th while Barbosa is ranked 54th in the annual competition.

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), headed by president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay and secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, is supporting the campaign of both Gomez and Barbosa in Moscow as part of its continuing program to tran and develop outstanding young players.

Source: http://www.journal.com.ph

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar