Barbosa, Gomez stay on top after a draw

Filipino grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and John Paul Gomez agreed to a silent draw in the seventh round Friday to remain in the lead in the 10th Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament at the Ludlow Castle Sports Complex in New Delhi.

Barbosa and Gomez showed the way with 6.5 points apiece, half a point clear of Filipino GM Mark Paragua, who whipped China’s Zeng Chongsheng, and four other players.

Paragua improved to 6.0 points, the same output of GMs Andrei Deviatkin and Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia, and International Masters Das Debashis and K. Rathnakaran of India.

The fourth Filipino in the tournament, GM Richard Bitoon, split the point with Prince Bajaj of India to raise his total to 4.5 points.

In the eighth round, Barbosa will battle Deviatkin, Gomez clashes with Paragua, and Bitoon goes up against Karthikeyan Murali of India.

“The draw is fine, and that gave both John Paul and Oliver strong chances for the title,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines chair-president Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr.

Standings after Round 7:
6.5 points—GM John Paul Gomez (PHI), GM Oliver Barbosa (PHI); 6.0—GM Mark Paragua (PHI), GM Andrei Deviatkin (RUS), GM Evgeny Gleizerov (RUS), IM Das Debashis (IND), IM Rathnakaran K. (IND).