INTERNATIONAL Masters Richard Bitoon and Oliver Barbosa became the first pair of players to get a grandmaster norm in the same round of a national championship yesterday at the National Press Club.
Bitoon stunned GM John Paul Gomez after 38 moves of Sicilian while Barbosa halved the point with GM Mark Paragua after 31 moves of Slav to pull off the unprecedented feat in the ninth round of the National Chess Championship: 4th Battle of the Grandmasters.
Both players now have two GM norms under their belt. Bitoon got his first during the 2008 Singapore International Open while Barbosa got his during the 10th Asian Continental Individual Chess Championships in Mashhad, Iran last May.
They also kept solo leader GM Wesley So within reach with 6.0 points.
So drew with GM Eugene Torre after 35 moves of London System Opening to push his total to 6.5 points.
It was So’s fifth straight after a cluster of four wins in the tournament supported by Pilipinas Shell, Manila Pavilion Waterfront Hotel and Casino, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, NPC, Remate at Hataw (JSY Publication).
GMs Darwin Laylo and Rogelio Antonio, Jr. remained in the hunt for the P150,000 top prize after splitting the point with their respective rivals.
Laylo agreed to a truce against IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia after 35 moves of Neo Gruenfeld to join Torre at fourth spot with 5.5 points while Antonio drew with GM Rogelio Barcenilla, Jr. to notch his fifth point.
GM Roland Salvador topped IM Yves Ranola after 53 moves of Queen’s Indian Defense.
GM Joseph Sanchez spoiled what could have been a triple celebration by beating IM Rolando Nolte in 42 moves of Center Counter. Sanchez joined Antonio at sixth place.
Nolte could have secured a GM norm with a victory. Instead, he’s now facing a tall order of scoring four more points in the last five rounds to get it done.
Nonetheless, National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman/president Prospero “Butch” Pichay is thrilled with the latest development in local chess.
“This is what I envisioned when we start staging Battle of the Grandmasters a few years ago,” he said. “A tournament like this gives our players better chances of getting GM norms.”
Pichay is hoping to have at least 20 Filipino GMs by 2013 for the Philippines to have its own Zonal competition.
He also wants to produce the country’s first Woman Grandmaster.
Defending champion Rulp Ylem Jose beat Jan Jodilyn Fronda after 58 moves of Reti Opening to maintain solo leadership after eight rounds in the women’s division.
In other matches, reigning national junior GU-20 champion Janelle Mae Frayna defeated Woman International Master Catherine Perena after 68 moves of English Opening; Woman FIDE Master Cherry Ann Mejia downed Mira Mirano after 36 moves of Sicilian; WIM Beverly Mendoza toppled Shania Mae Mendoza after 40 moves of Sicilian; Jedara Docena drew with WFM Marie Antoinette San Diego; and Woman National Master Jenny Rose Palomo scalped Rowelyn Joy Acedo after 58 moves of London System.
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