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INTERNATIONAL Masters Richard Bitoon and Julio Catalino Sadorra failed in their bids to jump to a share of third place when they lost their fifth round matches Thursday in the 2nd Subic International Open Chess Championship in Subic.
Bitoon, the former Philippine Navy stalwart bowed to Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami for his second straight loss while Sadorra yielded to Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son.
Bitoon of Cebu, earlier won his first three assignments before losing to Indian GM Deepan Chakravarthy in Wednesday?s fourth round. Sadorra, meanwhile upset Bangladesh GM Niaz Murshed before losing to Ngoc Truong Son.
Chakravathy, on the other hand settled for a truce with overnight co-leader Chinese Xiu Deshun to create a three-way tie for first place with Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai, who downed Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly. Ganguly is fresh from winning the Asian Continental Individual Chess Championship last week.
The three (Chakravarthy, Deshun and Dao) tallied 4.5 points each. GM Darwin Laylo, meanwhile halved the point with Chinese IM Zhang Ziyang to raise his total 3.0 points. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino
