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Overall standings after 11th and final round:
8.0 points—C. Li (China), W. Zhou (China), Q. L. Le (Vietnam), J. Sadorra (Philippines), B. Villamayor (Philippines); 7.5—E. Maghami (Iran), M. Mahjoob (Iran), T. Purnama (Indonesia); 7.0—D. Liu (Indonesia), W. So (Philippines); 6.5—R. Antonio (Philippines), X. Zhang (China), R. Nolte (Philippines), A.D. Nguyen (Vietnam), R. Tolentino (Philippines), T. H. Dao (Vietnam), R. Bitoon (Philippines), J. Gomez (Philippines), Z. H. Wynn (Myanmar), S. Irwanto (Indonesia), L. Wang (China); 6.0—S. Megaranto (Indonesia), H. Jia (China), J. Zhang (China), B. Nadera (Philippines), K. Yang (China), Z. Zhang (China), K. Ochoa (Philippines), R. Nava (Philippines), R. Andador (Philippines), H. Pascua (Philippines), Y. Wan (China)
SUBIC BAY FREPORT, Philippines—After leaving Singapore, rising star International Master Julio Catalino Sadorra and resurgent Grandmaster Buenaventura Villamayor sparkled for Philippine chess Wednesday.
Though both handled black, the 21-year-old Sadorra and Villamayor, 41, hurdled their final-round opponents and wound up in a five-way tie for first in the 2nd Philippine Open international chess championship at the Subic International Convention Center.
Sadorra trounced Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem, the erstwhile pacesetter, while Villamayor subdued Indonesian IM Sadikin Irwanto to finish with 8.0 points out of a possible 11, the same score posted by Le, Chinese GM Li Chao and Zhou Weiqi.
After the tie-break was applied Li, the PGMA Cup winner who drew with top-seeded Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaemmagami in the 11th round emerged champion, followed by Zhou, Le, Sadorra and Villamayor.
Zhou, co-champion in the A2 section of the last Aeroflot Open in Russia, agreed to a truce with Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob.
They split the top five prizes in the $40,000 tournament, with each one pocketing $4,000 (about P169,000).
“I studied his [Le’s] game against Laylo and found out that he’s beatable,” said Sadorra, who will be taking up Pychology at De La Salle University after a long stay in Singapore with his family.
Sadorra was going for mate when Le resigned after 43 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined.
Despite his fourth straight victory, however, Sadorra failed to clinch his second GM result as, coming from the bottom rung, his opponents’ average rating fell below the requirements.
“Sayang, but I’m still happy with the result as my preparations are bearing fruit,” said Sadorra, who got his first GM result in last year’s Pichay Cup.
Villamayor, who spent five years teaching chess in Singapore before deciding to resume his playing career at home, pounced on Irwanto’s passive stance to prevail in 38 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense.
“I’m very happy with my performance considering that this is only my second comeback tournament,” said Villamayor, the 2000 Asian Zonals champion and World Championship qualifier.
“This came at the right moment as it’s enrollment time,” said Villamayor, who has three children, including a female nursing senior.
“This is a very good development,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines president Prospero Pichay. “It shows that Filipino players have become stronger.”
Ghaemmagami, Morteza and Indonesian IM Tirta Chandra Purnama shared sixth to eight places with 7.5 points each, followed by Indonesian IM Dede Liu and Filipino sensation GM Wesley So with 7.0 points apiece.
The 14-year-old So, the world’s youngest GM,who topped this year’s Dubai Open and Battle of GMs, drew with Liu.
The tale of woe belonged to GM Rogelio Antonio. The highest-Filipino after the ninth round absorbed his second straight defeat at the hands of Purnama and got stuck at 6.5 points.
After a one-day break, most of the participants in the tournament supported by the Department of Tourism and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority will resume playing in the $30,000 Subic Open.
