Torre snares crown via tiebreak

GM Eugene Torre failed to eke out a final round win but succeeded in topping the President Arroyo Cup international chess championship with a draw against fourth seed GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Parañaque City last night.

Derailed by an eighth round setback to third seed GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia late Thursday, Torre went out for the victory with the white pieces but just couldn’t pull it off against Ghaemmaghami, settling for a draw after 31 moves of a Pirc Defense, one of his most-played openings in a checkered career spanning four decades

He wound up with 7 points then nipped Chinese GM Li Chao and GM Zhang Zhong of SIngapore in the tiebreak to capture the crown, his first in five years. Torre had a 2572 tiebreak score while Li and Zhang had 2533 and 2532, respectively.

The top three divided the combined purse of $15,000.

“Masayang-masaya ako. It’s a big honor for me to win this title. I felt like I was young again,“ said Torre.

Zhang, who started the final round tied with Torre with 6.5 points, drew his match against Mchedlishvili on the top board after 35 moves of a Bogo-Indian.

Li, half-a-point behind Torre and Zhang after eight rounds, outplayed compatriot Zhou Weiqi to force a three-way tie for first. He took the runner-up honors after the tiebreak while Mchedlishvili settled for fourth in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) under president Butch Pichay and secretary-general Mayor Abraham Tolentino.

The win was a big morale-boost for the 56-year-old Torre, who ended his 19 straight Olympiad stints after opting not to join the recent qualifier following the NCFP’s decision not to seed him and the other GMs in the team.

But the victory proved that Torre still got what it takes to win big tournaments, essaying six wins, including over top seed GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazkahstan in the fifth round, and two draws against a lone loss.

Four players, including GM Mark Paragua, finished with six points but the Filipino bet, who beat Xiu Deshun with the black pieces, settled for seventh place. Kazhgaleyev placed fifth while Ghaemmaghami wound up sixth and Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan finished eighth.

Torre thus became the third winner of the tournament held in honor of President Arroyo with GM Zhang Pengxiang of China topping the inaugural staging in 2006 and Li ruling the event last year.

The three other members of the Olympiad-bound Philippine team in Germany in November – GMs Jayson Gonzales, Darwin Laylo and Bong Villamayor – also finished in the upper half of the 72-player field with five points.

Gonzales, who vaulted to second overall behind GM Wesley So with 2524 rating, crushed 2006 PGMA Cup top Filipino player Hamed Nouri.