GM Antonio shares lead with Britain’s Short

FILIPINO Grandmaster (GM) Joey Antonio and British GM Nigel Short outplayed their respective foes to remain in a two-way tie on top after the seventh round of the 2017 International Open Chess Championship being held at the Osborne Hall in Bacolod City.

Antonio blasted compatriot International Master (IM) Ronald Dableo while Short clobbered untitled Filipino player Danmaersk Mangao in the nine-round tournament which offers $3,000 to the champion and $2,500 to the runner-up.

points apiece are fourth pick and former World Under 12 champion GM Srinath Narayanan of India, Vietnamese GM Nguyen Duc Hoa, Vietnamese IM Tran Minh Thang, second seed GM Karen Grigoryan of Armenia and Filipino National Master Merben Roque.

Narayanan and Grigoryan agreed to a draw in their seventh- round match while Duc Hoa defeated Filipino Edsel Montoya, Thang toppled Filipino IM Chito Garma, and Roque stunned Filipino IM Oliver Dimakiling.

Dableo, Mangao and Garma dropped to the eighth spot with 4.5 points together with Filipino GM Darwin Laylo, Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh and untitled Ted Ian Montoyo.

Laylo bounced back with a victory over Ellan Asuela as well as Minh who overpowered Kevin Mirano.

In the eighth round, Antonio faces Duc Hoa, Short meets Roque, Thang battles Grigoryan, Minh Montoyo, Laylo tackles Garma and Mangao goes up against IM Kim Steven Yap.