So unstoppable

MANILA, Philippines – Top favorite grandmaster Wesley So is fast turning the Phoenix Petroleum-Dapitan City “Battle of GMs” chess championship into his own private playground.

So hurdled another major obstacle in his title-retention bid, beating 2008 PGMA Cup champion GM Eugene Torre in a keenly-watched encounter in the third round at the Dapitan City Resort Hotel in Dapitan City.

The 15-year-old So, who opened the tournament with back-to-back victories over fellow GMs Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor and John Paul Gomez, played superbly with black and clinched the win in 36 moves of the Slav.

The third win in a row enabled So to raise his score to six points and seize an early two-point lead over Gomez and three other players in this 11-round tournament featuring the country’s top GMs.

Gomez, who nailed his GM title during the 38th World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany last November, trounced IM Ronald Dableo in 61 moves of the Dutch to jump to a share of second to fifth places with four points under the unique scoring system which gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

If a stalemate occurs, the player who stalemates his opponent gets 1.5 points while the stalemated player receives half point.

Joining Gomez with a second-running four points are GMs Darwin Laylo and Rogelio Antonio Jr. and IM Richard Bitoon.

Laylo trounced IM Julio Catalino Sadorra in 48 moves of the Slav for his first win against two draws to boost his chances for the P200,000 top prize.

Antonio, who is making his first appearance in local soil following a highly-successful campaign in the United States, halved the point with Bitoon in 31 moves of the Caro Kann.

GM Mark Paragua crushed Villamayor in 32 moves of the Queen’s Gambit to join IM Rolando Nolte with three points.

Nolte, one of four IMs in the field, split the point with GM Jayson Gonzales in 38 moves of the French.

Torre, who drew his first two matches against Nolte and Gonzales, remained with only two points in the company of Villamayor and Gonzales.

In the fourth round, it will be So against Nolte, Antonio against Gonzales, Bitoon against Laylo, Paragua against Gomez, Sadorra against Villamayor and Dableo against Torre.

Here is the full article.

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar