Tagaytay-RP rips Tajikistan for joint lead

Tagaytay-RP continued to stamp its class in the Asian Club Cup chess team championship, blanking Tajikistan, 4-0, to remain on top with Al Ain (United Arab Emirates), Qi Yuan Club (China) and Club India (India) after three rounds of play in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates late Saturday.

GM Wesley So, who trounced Al Shuolaa (Yemen) and Mon-Cad (Mongolia) in the first two rounds, whipped FM Soknib Djuraev to lead the Filipinos’ third straight lopsided victory in the seven-round tournament organized by the Asian Chess Federation (ACF).

GMs John Paul Gomez, Mark Paragua and Darwin Laylo also hurdled their respective opponents to complete the Filipinos’ shutout victory worth three points based on the matchpoint style scoring system.

Overall, the Filipinos have the tournament-best total of 11.5 points counting their 4-0 win over Al Shuolaa (Yemen) and 3.5-0.5 triumph over Mon-Cad (Mongolia) in the previous two rounds.

Gomez, who became the country’s 10th GM in the recent Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, crushed Rashid Khousenov; Paragua downed bested IM Shurob Khamdanov; while Laylo demolished Ilhom Yumusov.

“The players are doing well right now. They are really determined to win the title,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) executive/events director and delegation head Willie Abalos in his report to NCFP president Butch Pichay and Tagaytay City Mayor Bambol Tolentino.

The fourth seeded RP chessers, however, will have their hands full as they play the top seeded Al Ain (UAE) side in the fourth round late Sunday.

Al Ain, bannered by super GM Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine and GM Baadur Jobava, whipped Chirchik (Uzbekistan), 3-1, to set up a fourth-round duel with the Filipinos.

Karjakin, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2730, humbled GM Marta Dzhumaev, while Jobava outclassed GM Sailali Iuldachev as Al Ain streaked to its third straight win.

Also winning their matches for the hosts were Armenian import GM Gabriel Sargissian, who beat fellow GM Shukhrat Safin; and Chinese import GM Li Chao, who overwhelmed IM Sergey Kayumov.

Seventh seed Club India (India), led by IM R.R. Laxman and IM P. Karthikeyan, pulled the rug from under second seed Fajr Shams (Iran), while third seed Qi Yuan (China), bannered by GMs Wang Hao and Zhou Jianchao, edged Vietnam Victory Club (Vietnam), 2.5-1.5, to join Tagaytay-RP and Al Ai in the early lead.

Laxman toppled GM Mikhail Kobalia and Karthikeyan shocked Armenian GM Tigran Petrosian to clinch the victory for Club India.

Jianchao provided the lone win in the Chinese close victory over the Vietnamese when he beat GM Dao Thien Hai.

Wang drew with GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, as did Weiqi Zhou against GM Nguyen Anh Dung and GM Wen Yang against GM Nguyen Van Huy.

Club Intchess (Singapore), led by Filipino IM Julio Catalino Sadorra and FM Ignatius Leung, outplayed Sport Electricity Club (Iraq), 3-1, to lead the two pointers.

Sadorra, tipped to become the country’s next GM, outclassed Mohammad Namer, while Leung beat Satar Abdul Ahmed for Intchess’ two victories.

The winners will earn $20,000 while the runners-up, third and fourth-placed teams will take home $12,000, $8,000 and $5,000, respectively.