INTERNATIONAL MASTER Rico Yap Mascarinas and Jimson Valenzuela Bitoon downed their respective foes to lead the Philippines’ charge in the fourth round of the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) Training Tournament (Standard time control) on Saturday night at the Singapore Intellectual Games Centre in Singapore.
Mascarinas, the pride of Tuburan, Cebu, who played in eight Chess Olympiads, outlasted Sean Christian Goh of Singapore while Bitoon, from Cebu City and a BSBA major in Human Resource graduate student at DLS-College of St. Benilde (CSB), defeated another local bet in Yu Zhe Ashton Chia after 50 moves of Sicilian Alapin to create a four-way tie at first place with International Master (IM) Enrique Paciencia and Peng Keong Lee of Singapore. All four have 4.0 points.
Paciencia subdued Xuan Rui Ethan Poh of Singapore while Lee beat compatriot Arena Candidate Master (ACM) Adithya Elara Rajesh in round 4.