Georgian GM captures crown; RP's Antonio finishes 3rd

Top seed GM Mikhail Mchedlishvili of Georgia edged fellow GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran in the tiebreak to capture the title even as GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. finished a fighting third in the fifth Prospero Pichay Cup international chess championship at the LWUA Bldg. in Quezon City. Mchedlishvili, the highest-rated player in the field with an ELO of 2613, outwitted GM Abhijeet Gupta of India in the final round to clinch the title with seven points on five wins and four draws. Ghaemmaghami subdued GM Li Shilong of China to finish in a two-way tie for first place with Mchedlishvili with seven points.

But the sixth-seed player from Iran settled for runner-up honors due to a lower tiebreak score. Mchedlishvili and Ghaemmaghami, however, went home US$4,500 richer each. It was the second title in less than three weeks for Mchedlishvili, who also topped the Ravana GM tournament in a two-way tie with GM Vladimir Georgiev of Macedonia in Sri Lanka last month. The smile was back on the faces of the Filipino chess fans, too. Antonio outduelled GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia to clinch third place and emerge as the highest-placed Filipino player for the second straight time since a sixth-place finish in last week’s fourth President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Cup. The multi-titled campaigner from Calapan, Oriental MIndoro, who earned a slot in the coming World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia next month, finished in a tie for third to fifth places with GMs Nguen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam and Zhang Zhong of Singapore with 6.5 points. Nguyen whipped GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan while Zhang trounced GM Eugene Torre of the Philippines to catch up with Antonio. Antonio, however, finished ahead of Nguyen and Zhang in the tiebreak. Asian Zone 3.3 champion GM Darwin Laylo of the Philippines battled GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia to a draw to finish in a tie for sixth to eighth places with GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam and GM Neelotpal Das of India with six points. Dao outclassed giant-killer Lyndon Lumancas and Das outplayed IM Richard Bitoon in the other crucial encounter. Overall, Laylo wound up sixth with a higher tiebreak score. PGMA Cup champion GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan drew with GM-elect Ronald Dableo of the Philippines to lead a big group of players in ninth to 21st places with 5.5 points. The bunch included Torre, Dableo, GM Mark Paragua, IM Rolando Nolte, IM Oliver Dimakiling and FM Ferdie Donguines. Paragua drew with GM Pyotr Kostenko of Kazakhstan, Nolte toppled GM John Paul Gomez, Dimakiling humbled David Elorta and Donguines bested FM Haridas Pascua. - GMANews.TV