TAGAYTAY CITY—The Philippines continued to assert its mastery of Myanmar in their chess duel on Thursday.

Powered anew by International Master-candidate Rolando Nolte and former national junior champion Oliver Barbosa, the Filipinos notched similar 3.5-2.5 triumphs in the sixth and seventh rounds of the RP-Myanmar Dual Match at the Lake Garden Hotel here.

It was the seventh straight win in as many rounds for the Filipinos, who zoomed ahead of the Burmese with a total of 27 points, 12 clear of their rivals with only five rounds to go in the novel 12-round tournament.

Nolte drew with IM Oo Kyaw Nay in 27 moves of the Sicilian Alapin in the sixth round before besting FIDE Master Kyaw Soe Kyaw in 32 moves of the Grunfeld in the seventh round to emerge as the event’s leading scorer with 6.0 points on five wins and two draws.

“My moves are okay, so I go for the win each time,” said Nolte, eighth placer overall in the recent Subic Open and 13th in the Philippine Open held earlier this month.

The 22-year-old Barbosa rebounded from a fifth-round setback by downing IM Aung Aung (Gruenfeld, 61 moves) and Oo Kyaw (Sicilian, 44), respectively, in the tournament being hosted by the Tagaytay City government through Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

Recovering from a slump, Reggie Olay recorded the Filipinos’ other victory in the sixth round when he trounced IM Kyaw Lin Naing in 65 moves of the Modern Opening.

It was Olay’s first win after starting with three straight losses and two draws in the event organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Prospero “Butch” Pichay.

Subic Open champion Grandmaster-elect Jayson Gonzales settled for back-to-back draws against IM Kyaw Soe Kyaw (Slav, 13) and IM Kyaw Lin Naing (27 moves, Nimzovitch) in the sixth and seventh rounds.

Dino Ballecer also drew his matches against IM Zaw Htun Wynn (King’s Indian, 43) and Aung Aung (Bird’s opening, 12).

IM-candidate Rolando Andador saw his four-game win run broken after yielding to GM Win Lay Zaw in 79 moves of the Sicilian defense and IM Zaw Htun Wynn in 59 moves of the Slav defense in succession. Roy Luarca