Roque rises, joins leaders

Cebu’s National Master Merben Roque is slowly catching up with the leaders following his victory over International Master Oliver Dimakiling in Round 7 of the 2017 Negros International Chess Championships in Bacolod City yesterday.

Coming from back-to-back loss to the hands of GM Joey Antonio and NM Emmanuel Emperado, Roque scored three straight wins to gain share of the 3rd to the 7th places with 5 points.

However, Roque will be facing his toughest test ever as he plays the tournament top seed GM Nigel Short, the current co-leader, with GM Antonio in today’s penultimate Round 8 starting at 12 noon.

Short defeated another Cebu bet Edsel Montoya Monday night, and IM Kim Steven Yap last Saturday.

Roque is former world championship challenger of GM Gary Kasparov’s seventh Filipino opponent in the tournament organized by the Piaya Broadcasting Network and A&V Negros Chess Club.

Montoya meanwhile dropped to the 14th place after suffering a back-to-back loss to GM Short and GM Duc Hoa Nguyen in Round 6 and 7 and will play Xavier John Verdun in today’s Round 8.

IM Yap, meanwhile, moved up to the 16th place, sharing the 14th to the 23rd places with nine other players that include Montoya and fellow Cebuano NM Elwin Retanal for scoring 4 points. /