WEIQI ZHOU STOPS WESLEY SO AMAZING RUN IN SUBIC INT'L CHESS

Round 5: Standings after five rounds:

4.5 points – S. Megaranto (Indonesia), W. Zhou (China)
4 – R. Antonio, J. Sadorra, R. Nolte, E. Maghami (Iran), Q.L. Le (Vietnam), C. Li (China)
3.5 – W. So, D. Ballecer, Z. H. Wynn (Myanmar), H. Jia (China), M. Mahjoob (Iran), D. Liu (Indonesia), J. Zhang (China)

CHINESE WEIQI ZHOU stopped the winning streak of Filipino GM Wesley So after 32 moves of a French Defense to share the lead with Indon GM Susanto Megaranto after five rounds in the 2008 Philippine Open international chess championship yesterday at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center.

Megaranto, meanwhile toppled erstwhile solo leader GM Li Chao of China in 34 moves of the Sicilian Najdorf to take charge the 11-man Indonesian team seeing action in this tough, 11-round tournament organized by the National Chess federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and sponsored by Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Subic Bay Management Administration (SBMA).

Both Zhou and Megaranto have 4.5 points out of a possible five.Games of the top players can be viewed live daily at www.ncfphilippines.org

GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. bounced back from a heartbreaking fourth-round setback to Li to subdue compatriot NM Emmanuel Senador in their Three Knights Duel to stay in contention for the US$6,000 grand prize with four points.

Antonio, ever so eager to regain the country's top ranking from So, is tied with fellow Filipinos IM Julio Catalino Sadorra and NM Rolando Nolte, top seed GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran, GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Li.

Sadorra humbled WIM Xiaowen Zhang of China, Nolte crushed GM Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam, Maghami outplayed IM Tirta Purnama of Indonesia and Le whipped IM Barlo Nadera.

Little-known Dino Ballecer subdued IM Hafizulhelmi Mas of Malaysia to join So and five other foreign players with 3.5 points going into the sixth round late Saturday.
Tied with So and Ballecer with 3.5 points are GM Mahjoob Morteza of Iran, IM Zaw Htun Wynn of Myanmar, IM Dede Liu of Indonesia and untitled Haoxiang Jia of China,
The beginning of end for the white-playing So came with a weak pawn push on the 18th move, which allowed his 21-year-old Chinese opponent to launch a razor-sharp queen-rook-bishop attack and left the Filipino champion with no option but to resign 14 moves later.

Zhou, a two-time member of the Chinese national team in the World Under-16 Olympiad ( 2000, 2002) who made headlines when he finished in a tie for first place in the 2008 Aeroflot Open in Moscow early this year, sealed the outcome with 31… Re3, a potent rook move that forced the Filipino to resign or face mate in two moves.
It was So's first setback in the tough, 11-round tournament – and only his second since winning the 10th Dubai Open in United Arab Emirates and the "One-on-One Duel" with Megaranto in Jakarta last month.

The 14-year-old high school student at St. Francis College (Bacoor) hurdled his first three matches against FM Roderick Nava, IM Tirta Purnama of Indonesia and Reggie Olay before drawing with Li in the fourth round late Friday night.
World age-group campaigner Karl Victor Ochoa also pulled a major surprise when he beat IM Aung Aung of Myanmar.

In other notable fifth-round results, GM Buenaventura "Bong" Vilamayor bested Rusutm Tolentino; GM Win Lay Zaw of Myanmar outclassed FM Adrian pacis; GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam outplayed Kaiqi Yang of China; IM Tirto of Indonesia downed Tong Xu of China; Tiles Aris of Indonesia toppled IM Ronald Bancod; Arlan Cabe stopped Panru Li of China; and WIM Irene Sukandar of Indonesia downed Jedara Docena.

At stake in the prestigious tournament is a guaranteed cash prize of US40,000, with the champion bringing home the lion's share of US $6,000 and an elegant trophy from NCFP president Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr..

The runner-up and the third placers will receive US$5,000 and US$4,000, respectively.

Cash prizes will be given up to the 32nd placers.

After the tournament, the NCFP will hold the Subic International Open starting May 16 with more foreign players expected to come.

At stake is US$30,000, with the champion pocketing the top prize of US $5,000.

Tournament director is Willie Abalos, while chief arbiter is Toti Abundo.

contributed by MARLON BERNARDINO, edited by jovie sison