Villamayor drops to 3rd behind Viets

Grandmaster Bong Villamayor’s bid for another stint in the World Championship suffered a severe blow yesterday when he failed to score the much-needed win and settled for a draw with Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai in the penultimate round of the Asian Zonals at the Grand Boulevard Hotel.

But the standoff was the best Villamayor could muster in a game where he went into time trouble and was a pawn down in a bishop-pawn endgame of a Slav as the bespectacled Filipino bet forced Dao, whom he tied for first in last year’s Zonal, to accept the draw after 76 moves.

However, Villamayor needs to beat another Vietnam GM, Nguyen Anh Dung, in the final round today and hope that Dao drops his game to Indon IM Denny Juswanto and GM Utut Adianto, also of Indonesia, be held to a draw by FIDE Master Idelfonso Datu to force a playoff for the second World Championship berth.

In this case, Nguyen, who beat National Master Yves Rañola (55-King’s Indian Defense), clinches the title and the first slot while creating a four-way tie for second among Dao, Adianto, Juswanto and Villamayor.

Meanwhile, Jayson Gonzales obtained his third and final norm for an IM title after holding the top seeded Adianto to a 77-move draw in their Nimzo-Indian encounter.

Gonzales, one of the country’s fastest rising stars, secured his first two norms in last year’s stint in the tough United States chess circuit.

Nguyen is currently on top with 6.5 points, half-a-point ahead of Dao and a point in front of Adianto. Villamayor and Juswanto, who downed GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. (50-Caro Kann), shared fourth place with five points apiece. — Joey Villar