4th PGMA Cup round 7: GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son still leads, Eugene Torre withdraws from the tourney

4th seed and current leader of the tournament GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam settles to a quiet draw against the 2009 Dubai Open titlist, GM Tigran Kotanjian to remain on top of the standings with two more rounds to play. But there are one decisive game of the round though, among the top boards. The round saw 1st seed GM Mikhael Mchedlishvili of Georgia came out victorious over Pyotr Kostenko of Kazakhstan to inch closer with Truong Son, who is now just half point behind Son. The penultimate round of the tournament, the 8th round will start shortly at around 4:00 PM this afternoon. Both Truong Son and Mchedlishvili will eventually meet in round 8. Other important match up will be the game between GM Anton Filipov of Uzbekistan and Filipino IM, Richard Bitoon who is hoping to join IM Ronald Dableo among the newest Filipino to be elected with the grandmaster title. Also in round 7, Dableo defeated GM Li Shilong of China, the 2008 Pichay cup champion.

Defending champion GM Eugenio Torre, after settling for 5 straight draws and two consecutive defeats, GM Torre decided to withdraw from the tournament.

Unfortunately, at this time, the PGN are still not available. We will have them posted here the moment we got some.

For standings after 7 rounds, check them out HERE
For complete results from round 7, they are HERE
For round 8 pairings, check them HERE

More detailed reports from Marlon Bernardino

FILIPINO International Master Richard Bitoon (2490) notch his third straight draws against Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2579) to remain in contention after seven rounds of the 4th President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup International Chess Championship yesterday at the Duty Free Fiestamall in Paranaque City.

The Medellin, Cebu native Bitoon, protégée of NM Matias “Bombi” Aznar raised his total 5.0 points, the same output of his eight round opponent, Uzbek GM Anton Filippov (2595), top seed Georgian Super GM Mikhael Michedlishvili (2613), Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjian (2553), Singaporean GM Wong Meng Kong (2403), Georgian GM Merab Gagunashvili (2564) and Indian GM Getha Gopal Nayanan (2598).

“Ok lamang ang draw, hinahabol natin dito ang GM norm,”said Bitoon, who brought downed Michedlishvili in the fourth then halved the point with Wong Meng Kong in the fifth, Kotanjian in the sixth, and Maghami in the seventh.

“ Malakas ang tsansa na makuha ni Bitoon (Richard) ang kanyang 3rd at final GM norm dito sa PGMA chess,” said NM Edmundo Gatus earlier, one of the seven Filipino who passed the FIDE Arbiters Seminar examination last September 25 enroute to Fide arbiter title norm.

2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games most bemedalled athlete Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2589) still on top after settling with a draw over Kotanjian to hiked his total 5.5 points.

Nguyen claimed the top post after crucial back to back victories over Kazakhs GM GM Anuar Ismagambetov (2528) in the fifth and Wong Meng Kong in the sixth.

Ghaem, Ismagambetov led the huge group of 4.5 pointers that includes Filipino GM Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., John Paul Gomez, Bong Villamayor, Darwin Laylo, GM-elect Ronald Dableo and IM Oliver Dimakiling.

The nine round Swiss-system tournament offers $6,000 to the champion in this $40,000 total pot event.

Eugene Torre, Asia’s First GM, suffered two consecutive lost against David Elorta and youthful Haridas Pascua forced him to withdraw from the tournament. Torre, last year’s PGMA Cup Chess Champion stuck at 2.5 points on account of his five straight draws in the first five rounds of play.

“ Nag-withdraw na si GM Torre (Eugene) kaya wala na siya sa pairing sa round 8,