SINGAPORE MASTERS

PARAGUA, GONZALES IN HOT START

GM MARK PARAGUA and IM Jayson Gonzales of the Philippines got off to hot starts in the 4th Singapore Masters International Open Tournament 2007 yesterday in Singapore.

It's the only annual major open chess tournament in Singapore which attracted a total of 42 players in the Open division thatincludes eight (8) GMs, four (4) WGMs, nine (9) IMs, 1 (one) WIM, and 6 (six) FMs.

The no.7 pick Paragua (Elo rating of 2514), the 2003 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) most bemedalled athlete with three gold, had no trouble against the Russian Kiril Kuznetsov (2252) using the black pieces. The Sgt. Catolos, Cubao, Quezon City based Paragua meets China's Wan Yun Guo (2393), winner over Singaporean Jarred Neubronner (2097), in one of the marquee showdowns in the next round.

Gonzales (2454) was in awesome form against another host bet Timothy Chan (2231) using the white pieces to set up a clash with another Chinese who is untitled but a dangerous player, Shen Siyuan (2337), who upset top seed GM Zhang Zhong (2634), China's former top woodpusher but currently representing Singapore. Gonzales needs just one (1) GM result to complete his GM status.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president and former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. who supports the RP chess team's Singapore campaign, produced two Filipino GMs under his term---Wesley So and Darwin Laylo.

IM Oliver Dimakiling (2491) who hails from Davao City also showed great touch in whipping Hongkong's lone Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Anya Korke, and will next face Lin Chen (2363) also from China, who outplayed Jonathan Koh (2090) of Singapore.

Also with full point is Singapore based Pinoy IM Enrique Paciencia (2431) who routed FM Dominic Lo (2151) of Singapore. His next assignment is No.3 GM Chanda Sandipan (2593) of India, who nipped WGM Nguyen Thi Than An (2324) of Vietnam.

Another Singapore based Pinoy IM candidate Julio Catalino Sadorra (2414) settled for a draw with Daniel Chan (2137) of Singapore and will test the mettle of WIM Irine Kharisma Sukandar (2275) of Indonesia who also split the point with WFM Liu Yang (2056) of Singapore.

NM Rolando Andador, a native of Talisay City, Negros Occidental bowed to No.10 GM Wu Shaobin (2449) of Singapore. The 1995 Philippine Junior champion Andador, who is fresh from obtaining his first International Master (IM) norm in the recently concluded Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. International Open Chess Championships at the Duty Free Mall in Paranaque City aims to bounce back in contention by facing another tough opponent---GM Zhang Zhong.

Other notable winners in the opening round were No.2 GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili (2606) of Georgia, No. 5 GM Nguyen Anh Dung (2537) and No. 6 GM Dao Thien Hai (2530) of Vietnam. Meanwhile, No.4 GM Susanto Megaranto (2569) of Indonesia was upset by Wang Li (2318) of China.

Report from MARLON BERNARDINO