Tagaytay shares 2nd behind Guangzhou

TAGAYTAY–Host Tagaytay trounced Pasay City, 3-1, Monday to move into a tie for second place with Mandaluyong behind frontrunner Guangzhou after two rounds of the 14th Asian Cities Chess Championship at the Tagaytay International Convention Center here.

Playing black, Grand Master Joey Antonio, relieving GM Eugene Torre on board one, outwitted Fide Master Emmanuel Senador in 51 moves of a Slav Defense to power the hosts to their second straight victory in the nine-round, 15-nation chessfest.

International Master Ronald Dableo, the reigning Asian Zonal champion, whipped National master Jerome Balico in 31 moves of another Slav for the team’s other full point in the chessfest organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and the Tagaytay City government.

GM Bong Villamayor, taking over on board two, drew with International Master Barlo Nadera after a marathon 70 moves of an Irregular Opening while teammate IM Jayson Gonzales and Oliver Dimakiling agreed to a friendly draw in 20 moves of an English game.

The Tagaytay chessers earlier subdued Samarinda of Indonesia, 3-1, in the opening round Sunday with Torre absorbing the lone setback at the hands of Nathanael Situru.

Torre, playing his favored white pieces, lost to Situru in 35 moves of a Benoni and asked team captain Chris Mangalubnan to replace him in the next round in a bid to regain his bearings.

Mandaluyong, which began its campaign with a 3.5-.5 conquest of Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam, kept itself in the hunt for the prestigious Dubai Cup after eking out a 2.5-1.5 win over Jakarta despite the loss of International Master Mark Paragua on board one.

Paragua, the country’s triple gold medalist in the 22nd Vietnam Southeast Asian Games, fell to Indonesian chess sensation Susanto Megaranto in 39 moves of a Sicilian Sozim Variation.

In the endgame, the Mandaluyong bet was at the brink of either being mated or losing his queen that forced the former chess prodigy to resign in the tourney supported by the Department of Local Government, Department of Tourism, Philippine Sport Commission, Manila Sports Council, STI, Character and Tagaytay Haven hotels.

The Chinese team of Guangzhou, bannered by International Liang Chong on board 1, trounced Tehran of Iran, 3.5-.5, to remain in the solo lead after shutting out Sanaa of Yemen, 4-0, at the start on Sunday.

Defending champion Pavlodar of Kazakhstan played minus one player four the second straight day but still managed to crush Hong Kong, 3-1 and moved into a tied for fourth and fifth place with Kuala Lumpur.

Both teams were deadlocked with 5.5 points each.

The reigning titlists‚ solitary loss was by International Master Evgeni Igorov, who defaulted his match against Anwar Mohammad because his flight to Manila was held up in Bangkok.

Tanauan managed to hold Kuala Lumpur to a 2-all standoff and were in the next rung in tie with Samarinda, which dumped Macau, 4-0, toting similar five points each.

Torre was tapped to return to duty by Mangalubnan to spearhead Tagaytay’s crucial match with Guangzhou in the third round scheduled late Monday, while Mandaluyong also faced difficult opponent in Pavlodar.

There will also be two rounds played on Tuesday before the participants take a one-day respite on Wednesday.