Russia’s Savchenko grabs top spot

Russian Grandmaster Boris Savchenko halted Ukrainian GM Vitaly Sivuk’s five-game winning run to vault into the solo lead after four rounds in the Philippine Sports Commission-Puregold International Chess Challenge at Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel, SBMA, Olongapo City.

The No. 8 seed Savchenko earlier defeated reigning national champion GM Richard Bitoon in the third round to set up the clash against Sivuk, the Philippine International Chess Championship titlist.

Filipino GM Darwin Laylo stayed a half-point behind Savchenko with 3.5 points with a win and a draw.

Laylo downed International Master Oliver Dimakiling in the third round and split the point with GM Eugene Torre in the fourth.

The draw dropped Torre to 3.0 points in the company of fellow Filipinos IM Joel Pimentel and Dimakiling, Sivuk, Russian GMs Mikhail Mozharov and Anton Demchenko, Chinese GM Shanglei Lu and Indian GM Chakkravarthy Deepan.

Mozharov and Pimentel agreed to a draw after 57 moves of a King’s Indian Fianchetto; Demchenko beat Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjian, Lu dealt Bitoon his second straight loss, while Deepan trounced Filipino IM Emmanuel Senador.

Bunched at 2.5 points are Kotanjian, IM Abhimanyu Puranik and GM Narayanan Sunilduth Lyna of India, GM Chen Lin of China and GM Duc Hoa Nguyen of Vietnam.