GM ANTONIO SHARES 6TH PLACE + OTHER CHESS NEWS

PINOY GM ANTONIO SHARES 6TH PLACE IN SYDNEY CHESS

LONE Filipino GM Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr. (2525) scored 1.5 points in two rounds of play and shared 6th to 16th place but the biggest revelation yesterday when Fil-Australia based Raul Samar scored a stunning performance in the ongoing 2008 Sydney International Open Chess Championshipsna at the Parramatta Town Hall in New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Antonio, enlisted member of the Philippine Army defeated FM Dariusz Swiercz of Poland in the fifth round then held into a draw with IM Anna Zozulia of Belgium in the sixth round to raise his total 4.5 points, the same output of countryman Samar who upset GM Dejan Antic (2480) of Serbia and Montenegro in the fifth round then split the point with GM Darryl Johansen (2475) of Australia in the sixth round.

Antonio will square off Velimir Kresovic of Germany in the seventh round while Samar battles GM Varuzhan Akobian (2599) of the United States in the seventh round.

GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2579) of India grabs the lead with 5.5 points. He beat IM Zhao Zong-Yuan of Australia in the fifth round then drew with top seed GM Zhang Zhong (2617) of Singapore in the sixth round.

Tied at 2nd to 5th placers were GM Zhang and IM Zhao with 5.0 points apiece along with GM Gawain Jones (2562) of England and GM Merab Gagunashvili (2553) of Georgia.



PINAY WNM ALSO SHINES

WNM Sherily Cua drew with IM Atanas Kizov of Moldova in the fifth round and upset GM Antic in the sixth round for her 4.0 points and move into a tie for 17th to 29th placers

With NM Julius Joseph de Ramos and WNM Catherine Pereña.

In the Challengers section, umakyat sa ika-3 hanggang ika-7 puwesto si

Fil-Australia based Leonardo Tenorio, who hails from Marikina City climbed into a tie for 3rd to 7th placers after beating Horst Bleicher and Trent Parker of Australia, respectively to raise his total 4.5 points in six outings. Sina Sebastian Jurd and Andrew Furst of Australia share the lead with 5.0 points each.


IM NOLTE SALVAGES ANOTHER HUGE GM DRAW IN KOLKOLTA CHESS

FILIPINO International Master Rolando Nolte (2412) strengthening his GM title bid after salvaging another huge draw this time over Russian GM Vladimir Dobrov (2501) of Russia in the fourth round of 3rd Kolkata Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament yesterday in Gorky Sadan in Kolkata, India.

The Quezon City based Nolte notch 3 points on account of 2 wins, 2 draw. He is tied at 6th to 29th placers with fifth round opponent GM RB Ramesh (2473) of India who held into a draw with compatriot GM Koneru Humpy (2612) of India.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. is very optimistic that Nolte can maintain his momentum for a possible grandmaster norm.

"Kailangan lamang talaga bigyan ng break si (Rolando) Nolte, kaya naniniwala ako na malayo ang mararating niya," said Pichay, main benefactor of Nolte, who obtain his 3rd and final IM norm in the Asean Master Chess Circuit in Vietnam early this year.

Here in Kolkota, Nolte beat Nimmy Ag in the 1st round and Ghosh Diptayan of India in the 2nd round and drew with GM Das Neelotpal (2486) of India in the third round.

GM Chanda Sandipan (2593) of India, meanwhile stop the giant killing ways of IM Oliver Barbosa (2410) in their fourth round match as the latters (Barbosa) was stuck at 2.5 points and dropped into a tie for 30th to 44th placers in the company of fifth round opponent IM Sudhakar Babu of India, who drew with GM Das.

The Taytay, Rizal resident Barbosa earlier beat Swayams Mishra in the 1st round, drew with top seed GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2677) of India in the 2nd round then beat FM Minhazuddin Ahmed of Bangladesh in the 3rd round.

IM Chito Garma, on the other hand beat Shah Sagar of India for his 2.5 points. He will play FM Sahaj Grover of India in the next round, winner over IM Lodhi Mahmood of Pakistan.

The Tondo, Manila native Garman halve the point with Ghosh Ananda K in the 1st round, beat Ankit R Rajpara of India in the second round before losing his 3rd round match to GM Ahmed Adly (2551) of Egypt.

GM Victor Laznicka (2595) of Czech Republic and GM Nguyen Anh Dung (2525) of Vietnam share the lead with 4.0 points each after blasting their respective rivals.

GM Laznicka trounced IM Arun S Prasad of India while GM Nguyen clobbered IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy of India.

Third to 5th placers were GM Sandipan, no.2 pick GM Smbat Lputian (2616) of Armenia and GM Ziaur Rahman (2492) of Bangladesh with 3.5points each.

Contributed by MARLON BERNARDINO