Tagaytay holds on to 2nd in Asian Cities Chess tilt

Defending champion Tagaytay City overcame a tough stand by No. 12 seed Calicut (India) before hacking out a hard-earned 3-1 win in the seventh round of the 15th Asian Cities Chess Team Championships at the Eram Grand Hotel in Tehran, Iran, late Tuesday night. According to results sent to media Wednesday, GMs Mark Paragua and Rogelio Antonio Jr. and IM Oliver Dimakiling provided the much-needed victories for the second-seeded Filipinos. Tagaytay, however, still trails fourth-round victim Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) by 2.5 points with only two rounds remaining in this 18-team, 12-nation tournament being held in the ancient city near the Caspian Sea. Tagaytay is in solo second with 19.5 points. Paragua snapped a two-game losing skid by humbling O.T. Anilkumar (ELO 2421) in 41 moves of an English, Antonio made it two in a row by downing E.P. Nirmal (ELO 2203) in 27 moves of the Caro-Kann Defense and Dimakiling continued his recovery by whipping Narayanan Lakshimi (ELO 2145) in 25 moves of a Marshall Opening for the Filipinos' three victories. But IM Wesley So, the Filipinos' leading scorer and a strong candidate for the individual gold medal on board three, went down in shock defeat to M.B. Muralidharan (ELO 2265) in 65 moves of a Sicilian Defense. The 13-year-old So, who previously won five of his first six assignments with surprising ease, had positional and material advantage when he blundered and allowed his older but lower-rated Indian opponent to promote his e-pawn to a second queen. Pavlodar, led by GMs Evgeny Vladimirov and Petr Kostenko, crushed Damascus (Syria), 3.5-0.5, to pull away in the overall standings with 22 points. Third seed Saipa (Iran) was held to a 2-2 draw by fifth seed Rah Ahan (Iran) and dropped to solo third place with 18.5 points. No. 4 seed Shanghai (China) duplicated the Filipinos' feat by downing Sulimania (Iraq), 3-1, to climb into solo fourth place with 17 points. GM Jianchao Zhou and Wenjun Ju defeated their respective rivals for Shanghai's two victories. Rah Ahan (Iran) is fifth with 16 points. In crucial eight-round matches at 5 p.m. Wednesday (10 p.m. Wednesday, Manila time), Tagaytay will test the mettle of Shanghai (China), Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) will battle the all-female team Banvan-Tehran (Iran), and Saipa (Iran) will tackle Lahore (Pakistan). At stake in the nine-round tournament is the prestigious Dubai Cup worth approximately $45,000 and the top prize of $3,000. The runner-up and the third placer will receive $2,000 and $1,000. Standings after seven rounds 22 points – Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) 19.5 points – Tagaytay (RP) 18.5 points – Saipa (Iran) 17 points – Shanghai (China) 16 points – Rahahan (Iran) 15 points – Tidewater (Iran) 14 points – Tehran (Iran), Lahore (Pakistan), Aleppo (Syria) 13 points – Dubai (UAE), Calicut (India), Sharjah (UAE), Damascus (Syria) 12.5 points – Amman (Jordan), Sulimania (Iraq) 12 points – Colombo (Sri Lanka) 9.5 points – Erbil (Iraq) 3.5 points – Jerusalem (Israel)