Mark trips French bet, shares lead

GM-candidate Mark Paragua whipped FIDE Master Alain Spielmann of France in the sixth round Thursday to regain a share of the lead in the XV Cannes International Open Chess Championships in Cannes, France.

It was Paragua’s fourth victory in six games that included two draws, the last momentarily dropping him to second place Wednesday. But with that win over Spielmann, the 20-year-old IM caught Lexy Ortega of Italy at the helm and resumed his hunt for the crown in the nine-round Swiss system tournament.

So did compatriots Ronald Dableo, the reigning Asian Zonal champion, and Joseph Sanchez, who expectedly drew their match to lead the second group of 4.5 points, which included GMs Miko Popchev of Bulgaria and Igor Miladinovic of Greece.

Ortega, the solo leader in the fifth round, and Popchev played to a grandmaster’s draw with the former notching his fifth point in a tie with Paragua heading into the last three rounds of the championship which drew 128 players.

Round 7 games feature the crucial match between the joint leaders with Paragua hoping to hurdle one of the biggest threats in his title bid, while Dableo and Sanchez try to stay in contention as they tangle with Ognjan Todorov of Bulgaria and Lijubomir Scala of Yugoslavia, respectively.