Tagaytay tops Asian chess

TAGAYTAY — Host Tagaytay made a final round coup with a 4-0 blanking of Sanaa of Yemen and beat Guangzhou of China in the tiebreak to rule the 14th Asian Cities Chess Team Championship at the Tagaytay International Convention Center last night.

Grandmasters Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio and IMs Ronald Dableo and Jayson Gonzales whipped Yemenis Ali Al Halila, Sabri Abdul Muawla, Faraj Yahya and Hatim Al Hadarani, respectively, as the Tagaytay team wound up with 25 points in the nine-round Swiss system tournament.

The Chinese finished with the same output but settled for first runner-up honors on an inferior Bucholz tiebreak score.

"Of course we’re very happy because after years of joining the Cup and settling for bridesmaid and third-place finishes, we have it in our hands already," said grandmaster Bong Villamayor after they won the coveted Dubai Cup.

Villamayor delivered substantial points in the early goings but took a rest in the last two rounds to give way to the individual board honors race eyed and eventually won by Dableo and Gonzales.

The host squad won the Dubai Cup with victories over Doha (Qatar), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), Guangzhou, Jakarta (Indonesia), Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates).

Mandaluyong, which shared the lead with Guangzhou and Tagaytay after the eighth round, went home with the third place honors as it lost to No. 6 seed Teheran, 1.5-2.5, in the last round. It finished with 22.5 points.

The IM Mark Paragua-led Pasay team and 2003 titlist Pavlodar of Kazakhstan also amassed 22.5 points but settled for fourth and fifth after the tiebreak.

Pasay settled for a 2-all draw with Jakarta of Indonesia.

Doha’s Al Fayed Mohamad (Board 1), IM Barlo Nadera of Pasay (Board 2), Khaled Moussa (Board 3), IM Dableo (Board 4) and Gonzales (Board 5) won board honors.

Antonio keyed host Tagaytay’s 4-0 sweep of Dubai Friday, turning the tournament into a four-way horserace going into the final round.

With both players time trouble, Antonio forced Dubai’s Faisal

Alsharhan to blunder in the 50th move of a Caro Kann Defense Advance variation that gave the hosts the decisive fourth point to catch up with Guangzhou and seventh-round leader solo leader Mandaluyong at the top.

"Parehong ubos na ‘yong oras naming kaya madalian na. Duon nagkamali ang kalaban sa Qb4," said the 40-year-old Army corporal and six-time national champion, describing a position where black’s queen was checked by white’s knight as Alsharhan attempted to protect his unguarded king.

Torre earlier won on board 1 without lifting a piece when his opponent, Mohammed Ben Hafed, failed to show up and defaulted the match.

Dableo and Gonzales, on the other hand, easily beat Fide Masters Nabil Saleh and Saeed Ishaq on boards 1 and 2, respectively.

Guangzhou settled for a 2-all draw with defending champion Pavlodar while Mandaluyong sustained a 1.5-2.5 setback at the hands of giant-killer Pasay City.

All three teams entered the final round set late Saturday with the same scores of 21 points each in the event organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and the Tagaytay City Government.

Breathing down their necks was Pasay City with 20.5 points in the tournament backed by the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Tourism, Philippine Sports Commission, League of Cities of the Philippines, STI, Active Chess Center of Asia, Character Convention and Tagaytay Haven hotels.

Pasay saw its golden chance of wresting the outright lead vanish when Fide Manny Senador allowed victory to slip through his fingers against IM Mark Paragua on board 1.

Under time pressure, Senador, who played the white pieces, earlier sacrificed a rook for two pieces to improve the quality of his formation and seemed to have the upperhand.

But then Senador made a fatal error of Qg6 on the 31st move, placing his queen in an indefensible position to hasten his demise and resigned 10 moves later of a game involving the Sicilian Alapin