GRANDMASTER Boris Savchenko of Russia scored a win and a draw in the previous two rounds to retain his grip on the solo lead with three rounds remaining in the 2015 Philippine Sports Commission/Puregold International Chess Challenge at the Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel, SBMA, Subic,l Olangapo City.
Standings after seven rounds (Open Division)—Savchenko (RUS) 6,5, Lu (CHN), 5.5 Laylo (PHI), Deepan (IND) 5.0, Demchenko (RUS), Sivuk (UKR), Smirnov (RUS), Kotanjian (ARM), Shomoev (RUS), Zubov (UKR) 4.5, Torre (PHI), Rohan (IND), Puranik (IND), Nguyen (VIE), Sunilduth Lyna (IND), Lin (CHN), Belous (RUS), Severino (PHI) 4.0, Dimakiling (PHI), Pimentel (PHI), Mozharov (RUS), Garcia (PHI), Aravindh (IND), Gupta (IND), Nolte (PHI), Liu (SIN), Antonio (PHI) 3.5, Senador (PHI), Sean (INA) Bersamina (PHI) 3.0, Abelgas (PHI), Bitoon (PHI), Pascua (PHI), Segarra (PHI), Frayna (PHI), San Diego (PHI), Dela Cruz (PHI), Turqueza (PHI), Suede (PHI), Galas (PHI) 2.5.
The 29-year-old Savchenko defeated fellow Russian GM Mikhail Mozharov in Round 6 late Thursday, but saw his winning streak snapped by GM Chakkravarthy Deepan of India, who forced a draw after 30 moves of an English Opening in the seventh round.
Despite the draw, the no. 8 seed Savchenko kept his grip on the lead with 6.5 points, a full point ahead of his closest pursuer, GM Shanglei Lu of China, who racked up two straight victories.
Lin, seeded fourth here, topped the newly minted Philippine International Chess Championship titlist Vitaly Sivuk of Ukraine in the 6th round and followed it up with a 37-move win over Filipino GM Eugene Torre in the seventh in their Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense match.
Liu will challenge Savchenko in the pivotal eighth round, which was still being played late Friday.
GM Darwin Laylo, meanwhile, remained as the highest Filipino placer after seven rounds, following a draw and a win in the last two rounds.
Laylo, a two-time Chess Olympian, who is seeded 18th in this tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and supported by PSC, Philippine Olympic Committee, Asia United Bank, Puregold, Burlington Socks and Marc Ventures Mining and Development Corp., split the point with Anton Demchenko of Russia in the 6th round, but bounced back with a win over GM Duc Hoa Nguyen of Vietnam after 67 pushes of the King’s Indian Attack. He is now tied with Deepan for 3rd and 4th places at 5.0 points, and will try to get the upperhand in their 8th round clash Friday.
Demchenko,meanwhile, dropped into a big group with 4.5 points each, whcich include Sivuk, fellow Russian GMs Pavel Smirnov and Anton Shomoev, GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia, and no. 2 seed Alexander Zubov of Ukraine.
In the Challenger Division, top seed Franz Robert Grafil and 20th seed Erickson Marimla agreed to a draw after 44 moves of the Symmetrical English to stay tied for the lead with 5.5 points each, or only a half point ahead of Sherwin Tiu, Rolly Parondo, NM Efren Bagamasbad, Istraelito Rilloraza and Jerich Cajeras, who are tied with 5.5 points each.