Barbosa rallies to win in Vietnam chess tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Oliver Barbosa turned a losing position into a 39-move victory over FIDE Master Hoang Canh Huan of Vietnam to join  three other Filipinos in a big logjam at fourth spot after the sixth round of the Asian Zonal 3.3 Championship in Ho Chi Minh City in  Vietnam Thursday.

Playing white and in early time trouble, Barbosa, the country second board player in the last two World Chess Olympiad editions, lost way in a tricky variation of the Benoni by prematurely capturing early that gave Hoang a strong positional advantage.

But Hoang couldn't capitalize on it and threw away everything with a series of blunders in a mad time scramble to allow the Taytay City native escape with victory from the jaws of defeat.

Barbosa thus joined countrymen GMs Darwin Laylo and John Paul Gomez and International Master Haridas Pascua and several other foreign chessers at No. 3 with four points apiece with three rounds left.

Laylo and Gomez drew in just 14 moves of an English Opening while Pascua halved the point with FM Le Tuan Minh in 44 moves of a Slav Defense to stay in the hunt for the two slots being staked in the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan later this year.

Leading the way still with five points apiece were Vietnamese GMs Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in 20 moves of another Slav duel.

Other Philippine bets still contention were GM Eugene Torre, who downed FM Dang Hoang Son, and GM Richard Bitoon, who brought down Le Minh Hoang.