INQUIRER Sports

SUBIC FREEPORT - International master Richard Bitoon trounced Lou Yiping of China in the eighth round Saturday night to vault into a tie for fifth to 13th places in the 2009 Subic Open international chess championship at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center.

Bitoon, one of several Filipino players seeking the GM title this year, beat the 35th-seeded Chinese with white to raise his record to 5.5 points on five wins, one draw and two losses.

The 34-year-old Southwestern University-Cebu alumnus was playing fifth seed GM Abhijeet Gupta of India in last night’s final round.

Bitoon stood a point behind leader and second seed GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran.

Maghami drew with Sandipan, Xiu humbled GM Negi Parimarjan of India, while Rahman halved the point with GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam.

Four other Filipino campaigners—IM Julio Catalino Sadorra, GM Darwin Laylo, GM Mark Paragua and IM Oliver Dimakiling—stayed within striking distance.

Sadorra trounced Wang Li of China, Laylo drew with Paragua and Dimakiling beat Emmanuel Senador.

Standings after eight rounds:
6.5 points—E. Ghaem Maghami (Iran); 6.0—D. Xiu (China), C. Sandipan (India), Z. Rahman (Bangladesh); 5.5—Y. Yu (China), K. Yang (China), T.H. Dao (Vietnam), C. Deepan (India), S. Ganguly (India), N.T. Nguyen (Vietnam), R. Bitoon (RP), S. Megaranto (Indonesia), A., Gupta (India); 5.0—J. Sadorra (RP), C. Arvind (India), P. Negi (India), J. Ashwin (India), D. Laylo (RP), M. Paragua (RP), O. Dimakiling (RP), V.H. Nguyen (Vietnam)