So beats Antonio, returns to leader board in Battle of GMs
By Roy Luarca
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:03:00 05/30/2010
TAGAYTAY CITY, Philippines — Two-time champion Wesley So got a free ride to the top Sunday night, winning by default over Grandmaster Rogelio “Antonio” Jr. and catching up with erstwhile solo leader GM John Paul Gomez after six rounds of the Phoenix Petroleum 3rd “Battle of GMs” at the Character Hotel here.
So, only 16 but the country’s No. 1 player the past two years, raised his total to 5.0 points, tying Gomez, who settled for a draw with fellow Dresden Olympian GM Darwin Laylo in the 11-round tournament offering P200,000 to the men’s champion and P50,000 to the women’s titlist.
Although Antonio appeared at the venue, he requested that his game with So be postponed as he was not feeling well after ruling the two-day Philippine Sports Commission Chair Harry Angping Cup that ended Sunday.
Tournament director Willie Abalos, however, did not accede to Antonio’s request and declared him loser by forfeiture, citing a ruling that a player must appear on the board at the time of the match.
With the forfeiture, the second-seeded Antonio got stuck at 4.0 points and must score on each of the remaining five rounds to stay on track of repeating his runner-up finish to So in 2009’s edition held in Dapitan City.
Laylo, on the other hand, improved to 3.5 points as the four GMs continued to tow the 11-man field in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Prospero “Butch” Pichay in cooperation with the Tagaytay City government through Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
Laylo and Gomez decided to split the point after just 16 moves of a Slav with neither player wanting to deviate from the book line.
Here is the full article.
Are they using FIDE rules?