Barbosa, Gomez retain lead

Filipino Grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and John Paul Gomez toppled their respective rivals in the sixth round Thursday to stay on top of the 10th Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament in New Delhi, India.

Barbosa stunned GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan to rise to a perfect 6.0 points, the same output of Gomez.

Sustaining the form that propelled him to a runner-up finish in the 4th Chennai Open Grand Master Chess Tournament recently, Gomez bested Indian International Master Lalith Babu M R.

Indian IM Rathnakaran K downed countryman and fellow IM Thejkumar M S to score 5.5 points for solo third place.

GM Mark Paragua trounced Indian Narayanan S L and bounced back in contention with 5.0 points, good for a share of fourth to 11th places in the company of Dzhumaev and six others.

Cebuano GM Richard Bitoon defeated Indian Srikanth K to improve his record to 4.0 points. Bitoon was lodged at 40th to 89th places.

In the seventh round, Gomez battles Barbosa for the solo lead; Paragua faces Chinese Zeng Chongsheng, and Bitoon meets Indian Prince Bajaj.

The India chess campaign is a part of Team Philippines’ preparation for this year’s 38th Chess Olympiad set in Istanbul, Turkey.