Tagaytay rips Baghdad; PSC chessers fall

Round 5 Standings

10 points—Tagaytay; 8.0 points—Wuxi (China), 7.0 points—Shanghai (China), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia); 6.0 points—Manila-PSC, Singapore, Baghdad (Iraq), Pasay-PAF, Erdenet (Mongolia), Seoul (Korea), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Bs Begawan (Brunei); 3.0 points—Dubai (UAE), Chinese Taipei; 2.0 points—Kuwait; 1.0 point—Abu Dhabi (UAE)

TAGAYTAY CITY—Powerhouse Tagaytay continued to bulldoze the opposition, but Manila-PSC fell by the wayside in the fifth round of the Asian Cities Chess Team Championship yesterday at Pagcor-Tagaytay.

The all-Grandmaster Team Tagaytay blanked Baghdad (Iraq) to tighten its grip of top spot even as Wuxi (China) climbed to second spot with a 3-1 rout of Manila-PSC.

Olympians Oliver Barbosa, Mark Paragua, John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo bested Candidate Master Zozek Salah Mohammed, Fide Master Akar Ali Salih, FM Ali Layth Ahmed and CM Namir Mohammed Ismael, respectively, to hand Tagaytay its fifth straight win and a perfect 10 points in the 18-team tournament being held through the initiative of Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, the Fide Asian Zone 3.3 president.

Gomez, the reigning National Open champion, highlighted Tagaytay’s supremacy with his fifth straight victory on board 3.

Third-ranked Wuxi stayed within striking distance at 8 points behind GM Wei Yi, Lin Chen and Ji Dan, who toppled GM Rogelio Antonio, GM Richard Bitoon and IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia in succession. IM Rolando Nolte averted a shutout for fourth seed Manila-PSC by beating IM Wang Li  on board 3 tussle.

Shanghai (China), powered by GM Zhou Jianchao, and Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) led by GM Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa, hurdled separate rivals to share third place with 7 points each.

Second-ranked Shanghai drubbed Shah Alam (Malaysia), 3-1, while No. 5 Ulaanbaatar subdued Sharjah (UAE), 2.5-1.5.

Pasay City-PAF struck back with a 4-0 rout of Colombo (Sri Lanka) and climbed to 6.0 points with Manila-PSC, Singapore and Baghdad.