INQUIRER Sports

Five foreign players ran away with the top honors in the 4th President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup International Chess Championship which ended yesterday at the Duty Free Fiestamall in Paranaque City.

GM Anton Filippov (Uzbekistan), GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Vietnam), GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran), GM Merab Gagunashvili (Georgia) and GM Getha Gopal Nayanan (India) each scored 6.5 points to rule the nine-round Swiss system tournament.

After the tiebreak, Filippov took the title after the No.3 seed who has an Elo rating of 2595, beat No.17 Filipino IM Richard Bitoon (2490) in the eighth and penultimate round then halved the point with top seed Georgian GM Mikhael Michedlishvili (2613) in the ninth round yesterday.

Bitton, the Medellin, Cebu-native and protégée of NM Matias ?Bombi? Aznar, lost his 8th round match after 60 moves of Sicilian Defense via time forfeit.

?Malabo na ang third at final GM norm ni Chard (IM Richard Bitoon) kasi natalo siya via time forfeit sa 8th round,? said National Master Edmundo Gatus.

International Arbiter Gene Poliarco explained that a GM norm aspirant needs to score at least 6.5 points in a nine round Swiss system event like the PGMA Cup.

Bitoon only managed to score 5.5 points after a draw in the 9th round against compatriot and No. 27 seed IM Emmanuel Senador (2367). It was the same output of Senador, GMs Buenaventura Villamayor, John Paul Gomez and Jayson Gonzales of the Philippines, GM Wong Meng Kong of Singapore, GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia, GM Annuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan and GM Das Neelotpal of India.