Standing after two rounds (Open Division) – Sivuk (UKR), Bitoon (PHI), Dimakiling (PHI), Savchenko (RUS), Laylo (PHI), Pascua (PHI) 2, Gupta (IND), Mozharov, Senador (PHI), Pimentel (PHI), Aravindh (IND), Kotanjian (ARM), Antonio (PHI), Torre (PHI) 1.5, Smirnov (RUS), Shomoev (RUS), Sean (INA), Lu (CHI), Demchenko (RUS), Rohan (IND), Garcia (PHI), Zubov (UKR), Belous (RUS) Nguyen (VIE) Sunilduth Lyna (IND), Puranik (IND), Docena (PHI), Lin (CHI), Deepan (IND), Liu (SIN), Bersamina (PHI), Nolte (PHI), Segarra ( PHI), San Diego (PHI).
GRANDMASTER Vitaly Sivuk of Ukraine continued where he left off, scoring two successive wins in the first two rounds to pace the 2015 Philippine Sports Commission-Puregold International Chess Challenge at the Subic Bay Peninsular at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Olangapo City.
The 23-year-old Sivuk, who topped the recent Philippine International Chess Championship held at the same venue, crushed Filipino upstart Jerad Docena after 45 moves of a King’s Indian (Classical Averbakh) in the first round and followed up with a win over International Master Abhimanyu Puranik of India to stay unbeaten with two points, along with five other bidders.
But in a pleasant turn, four of the six early co-leaders are Filipinos–reigning national champion GM Richard Bitoon, IM Oliver Dimakiling, GM Darwin Laylo and young IM Haridas Pascua, all of whom beat higher-seeded opponents, while the other two-pointer is Russian GM Boris Savchenko.
It was the Cebu native and 24th seed Bitoon, however, who scored two huge upset victories early in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and supported by the PSC, the Philippine Olympic Committee, Puregold, Burlington Socks, Asia United Bank and Marc Ventures Mining and Development Corp., trashing no. 2 seed Alexander Zubov of Ukraine after 48 moves of an English, and upended mo. 13th seed GM Duc Hoa in the second round.
The 28th seed Dimakiling was also off to a good start, as he toppled no. 6 seed GM Vladimir Belous after 49 moves of a Sicilian, and in the second round, lowered the ax against 14th seed Indian GM Narayanan Sinulduth Lyna.
No. 18 seed Laylo, meanwhile, turned back Woman International Master Janelle Mae Frayna after 36 pushes of a Caro-Kann (Modern Line) in the first round, and then upset no. 3 GM Pavel Smirnov of Russia in the second. The no. 20 seed Pascua, who defeated WIM Mikee Charlene Suede in the first round, scored his biggest win so far as he crushed no. 9 seed GM Anton Shomoev in the second round.
Four other Filipino bidders – GMs Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio and IMs Emmanuel Senador and Joel Pimentel lead a big group with 1.5 points which also include top seed Abijheet Gupta of India, no. 7 seed GM Mikhail Mozharov of Russia, GM Chitambharam Vr. Aravindh of India and GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia.
The 64-year-old Torre, who beat WIM Bernadettte Galas in the first round, drew with Mozharov in the second round, while Antonio beat Fide Master Adrian Pacis in the first round, before halving the point against Gupta in the second round.
Senador, the no. 32 seed, started his bid with a huge win and a draw, toppling no. 10 seed Chen Lin after 45 moves of a Sicilian Morra Gambit, before splitting the point against the 16th seed Kotanjian in the second round, while Pimentel axed no. 15 seed Indian GM Chakkravarthy Deepan after 33 moves of an English Opening and in the second round, drew with another Indian GM in Aravindh.
In the Challenger Division, a total of 36 players, led by top seed Robert Franz Grafil, were off to a good start after beating their respective opponents in the tournament which drew 84 local participants.