Wang is king

SUBIC—Chinese Grandmaster Wang Hao settled for a draw against Russian GM Boris Savchenko Sunday night, but it proved enough to give him the 2016 Philippine International Chess Championship crown at Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel.

The top-seeded Hao tried long and hard to extract victory with his rook and bishop against Savchenko’s rook before agreeing to a marathon 112-move standoff of a King’s Indian Fianchetto in the ninth and final round.

Hao, boasting an Elo rating of 2678, wound up with 6.5 points, the same total posted by Vietnamese International Master Tuan Minh Tuan, but won via the tiebreak.

Completing his remarkable climb, Tuan stunned Russian GM Boris Savchenko in the eighth round Saturday night and then bested Belarusian GM Vladislav Kovalev to catch up with Hao.

They split the top two prizes and got $6,000 each in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Surigao Del Sur Rep. Prospero “Butch” Pichay.

Chinese Woman GM Lei Tingjie, who’s being mentored by Hao, drew with GM-elect Haridas Pascua and landed at 6.0 points with Indian IM Abhimanyu, who drew with Russian GM Anton Demchenko.  Lei is now a full-fledged GM.

Janelle Mae Frayna, the country’s first WGM, prevailed over Indian Subbaraman Vijayalaksi, also her country’s first WGM, to finish with 4.5 points.

Savchenko secured fifth place with 5.5 points, followed by Demchenko, also with 5.5.

Haridas emerged the highest-placed Filipino with 5.0 points, good for 12th among the 38 entries that included 12 GMs.

Georgian GM Mikheil Mchedlishvili trounced IM Paulo Bersamina to   place seventh, also  with 5.5 points. Georgian GM Merab Gagunashvili (5.5), Kovalev (5.5) and GM Levan Pantsulaia (5.5), who beat Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjan, completed the top 10.

Ateneo stalwart IM John Emmanuel Garcia forged a draw with Belarusian GM Kirill Stupak in 19 moves of an English Opening-Anglo Indian Defense and also amassed 5.0 points for 13th spot.

John Marvin Miciano topped the Challenger Division.