IM Richard Bitoon wins 5th Singapore Chess Fest Masters Tournament

Becoming a favorite battleground for many Filipino masters

It's one, two finish for Filipino chessers in the Lion City!

Filipino IM Richard Bitoon (2439) scored a total of 6.5 points to bag the 5th Singapore Masters International Chess Tournament. Eight players finished second over all with 6.0 points but GM Mark Paragua took the second spot due to higher quotient points. Another Filipino campaigner, IM Julio Catalino Sadorra finished 5th over all, also with 6.0 points. The tournament saw the paricipation of the strong Vietnamese Olympiad team who finished 11th place in the just concluded 2008 Dresden Olympiad.

The 15th seed Bitoon (beat-o-on) posted a total of four wins and five draws with rating performance of 2596, gaining 19.5 points in the FIDE rating. He defeated two Grandmasters, Indonesian no.1 rank GM Susanto Megaranto in the third round and Uzbekistan's GM Anton Filippov in the seventh round. 5th seed GM Mark Paragua on the other hand posted a total of three wins and six draws. His final round victory against a untitled Chinese player, Yu Ruiyuan proved to be crucial for his strong finished. Ironically, all his victories came at the expense of two untitled players and one women International Master (ouch!). He picks 5.0 points in the FIDE rating. Were it not for his devastating loss to untitled Singaporean player Jonathan Koh who has a rating of just 2155, 17th seed IM Julio Catalino Sadorra (2431) result could be even better. Sadorra finished the tournament with four wins, four draws and a loss, gaining 8.4 points. Other Filipinos who see action in these week long festival are IM Oliver Dimakiling, Steven Kim Yap, Dino Ballecer, IM Luis Chiong who finished the tournament 17, 18, 19 and 20 place respectively.

- Tournament Official Website
- Final rankings, games, PGN are available at Chess-results website
- Photo from wikipedia