RP chessers fall to 2nd despite So heroics

TEHRAN, Iran – Wesley So continued to flourish, winning two games in a day although the Philippines lost grip of the joint lead as GMs Mark Paragua faltered in the fifth and sixth rounds of the 15th Asian Cities Chess Team Championship at the Eram Grand Hotel here Monday.

So scored back-to-back victories over his older and more experienced rivals, beating IM Morteza Mahjoob of Saipa in round 5 and dominating Talal Alzaim of Damascus in the sixth to boost his record to five wins and a draw in the tough, nine-round Swiss system tournament.

But Tagaytay-Philippines could only draw with third seed Sapia (Iran), 2-2, in the fifth round, enabling erstwhile co-leader and two-time champion Pavlodar (Kazakhstan), which blanked Rahahan (Iran), 4-0, and tripped Shanghai (China) in the sixth, 3-1, to regain the solo lead with 18.5 points.

The Filipino bets dropped into a tie for second with Saipa (Iran) with 16.5 points, counting its 3-1 rout of seventh seed Damascus (Syria) in the sixth round.

With his impressive performance, the 13-year-old So is also now the leading candidate for the individual gold medal on board three.

IM Oliver Dimakiling also racked up back-to-back victories over IM Amir Mallahi of Saipa and Assad Albonni of Damascus on board four.

GM Joey Antonio dropped his match against fellow GM Elshan Moradiabadi of Sapia in the fifth round but came back strong in the sixth to subdue FM Samir Mohammad of Damascus.

Paragua, however, dropped his matches to GM Ehsan Maghami Ghaem of Saipa and IM Imad Hakki of Damascus.

Super GM Evgeny Vladimirov and GM Petr Kostenko swept their matches to lead the Kazakhs’ decisive charge.

Saipa (Iran) followed up its 2-2 draw with Tagaytay-RP in the morning with a lopsided 3.5-.5 win over fellow Iranian team Tidewater in the sixth round to join the Filipinos in second spot.

Shanghai (China), led by GM Zhou Jianchao and WGM Wang Pin, and Rah Ahan (Iran) shared fourth place with 14 points.

The tournament takes a break Tuesday.

"This is a good opportunity for our players to unwind and relax for a while before going to battle in the final three rounds," said Tagaytay-RP team captain Wilfredo Abalos.

"All our four players have already played six rounds in only four days without a rest, so I think it will do them good if they take a break for now," added Abalos.

The Filipinos’ seventh-round assignment is against No. 12 seed Calicut (India).

At stake in the tournament is the coveted Dubai Cupo worth approximately $45,000 and the top prize of $3,000.