IM Barbosa earns GM norm

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

FILIPINO International Master (IM) Oliver Barbosa drew his match against former Asian Junior Champpion Indian GM Abhijit Kunteto to earn his first GM Norm in the ninth and final round of the 10th Asian Continental Individual chess championships at the Hotel Pardisan in Mashhad, Iran on Tuesday.

The draw enabled Barbosa to earn the first of three norms he needs to become the Philippines’ newest GM.

The news broke up by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. "Nakausap ko si (Fide delegate ) Toti (Abundo), nakuha ni (Oliver) Barbosa ang kanyang 1st GM norm kasi mataas ang rating ang mga nakalaban niya," long-time sports patron Pichay told to this writer yesterday.

"Naniniwala ako bago matapos ang taong ito ay magiging pinakabagong grandmaster ng Pilipinas si Barbosa" he added.

The Taytay, Rizal native Barbosa (ELO 2506) used the advantageous white pieces to split the points with Kunte. He thus earned 5 points to tie with Kunte, GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly and GM Sethuraman SP of India, compatriot GM John Paul Gomez, GM Wen Yang of China, GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan, GM Cao Sang of Vietnam and former world champion top seed GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan at 13th to 21st place.

Barbosa, who collected a total performance rating (TPR) 2606 drew his first match against GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2676) of India, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2635) of Vietnam and GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2606) of Iran.

He beat FM Al-Ali Hussein Ali Hussein (2394) of Iraq in the fourth then bowed to GM Zhao Jun (2574) of China in the fifth then toppled IM Alavi Sayed Javad (2428) of Iran in the sixth.

He drew with Kasimdzhanov (2685) in the seventh, GM Adhiban B (2543) of India in the eight and Kunte (2526) in the ninth and final round.
Gomez, meantime Wen.

GM Wesley So, country's top rated player with an ELO rating of 2667 halved the points with GM Parimarjan Negi of India to finished in a tie for 9th to 12th place in the company of 5.5 pointers that includes Negi, GM Zhao Jun and GM Zhou Weiqi of China.

Zhou inflicted the second straight loses of GM Mark Paragua. Paragua was stuck at 4.5 points, the same output of GM Darwin Laylo, who settled a truce with world's no.1 female player GM Hou Yifan of China.

GM Pentala Harikrishna of India bested fellow 6.5 pointers GM Yu Yangyi of China and GM Truong Son in the tie break points to captured the title.

Harikrishna beat Zhao while Truong Son dealt Yangyi in the final canto.
GM Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan beat Kasimdzhanov to emerged over-all fourth place in the 6 pointers.

The top four (Harikrishna, Yangyi, Truong Son and Jumabayev)finishers in the annual tournament will earn the right to represent the region in the 2011 World Cup scheduled in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia later this year.