ANTONIO STAY ON TRACK IN ASIAN CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

GM Rogelio Antonio Jr.  defeated GM Nguyen  Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam to  forge a five-way tie for the lead after the eighth round  of the 200 Asian Chess Championships at the Subic  Exhibition and Convention Center on Wednesday.

Antonio prevailed after 36 moves of the Caro Kann Defense to raised his total to six points on four wins and four draws in this tough, 11-round tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

“I’m satisfied with my performance right now. The US tour did me some good,” said Antonio, who avenged his loss to Nguyen in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games. “. I like my chances now with  only three rounds left.”
Tied with Antonio for the lead are  No. 9 GM Hou Yifan of China, No. 5 GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India, No. 16 GM Chanda Sandipan of India and No. 15 GM Zhoeu Weiuqi of China.
Yifan  trounced GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam in 32 moves of the King’s Indian, Zho crushed  GM Elshan Moradiabadi  of Iran and Ganguly split the point with Sandipan in 32 moves of the Gruenfeld.
But while Antonio finished on a winning note, compatriot GM Wesley So came up short anew.
So, at 15 the country’s highest-rated  player with an ELO of 2641,  halved the point with  No. 54 seed Yu Yangyi of China in 40 moves of  the Sicilian.
So, seeded second here  behind GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India, settled for his fourth draw in the last five rounds  but remained within striking distance with five points on three wins, four draws and one loss.
So tried his best to extricate a win, but failed to do so for the second straight time.
“We both fell into time trouble and I couldn’t find a winning line,” said So, who now needs to win at least two of his three remaining games to barge into the World Cup.
Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre outplayed compatriot GM Darwin Laylo to  keep his  slim hopes  with five points.
GM Abhijit  Kunte of India  upset compatriot No. 7 seed Negi Parimarjan to lead three other  players with 5.5 points.
Saiskiran, the tournament’s top seed with an ELO of 2682,  also bounced back  into contention by  dumping GM Bui Vinh  of Vietnam and improve to  five points.
Two  other Filipino campaigners — IMs Oliver Dimakiling and Rolando Nolte  — agreed to a truce and  remained with four points each.
GM  Buenaventura  “Bong” Villamayor  trounced  FM Anjas Novita  of Indonesia to  to  rise to 3.5 points in the company of IM Ronald Bancod and Deniel Causo, who hurdled their opponents.
Bancod beat Vietnamese FM Hoang Canh Huan while Causo whipped Chinese Yang Kaiqi.
In the  women’s division,  WFM Ding Yixin and Ju Wenjun  of China split the point and stay in the lead with  six points each.
The top three finishers will qualify for the 2100 Women’s World Championship next year.

by: MARLON BERNARDINO