NM Roque salvages a draw against Indonesian GM, falls to 16th place
National Master (NM) Merben Roque (left bottom corner) is seen on screen during a live streaming of the ongoing Asian Zonals 3.3 Chess Championships at their tournament venue at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines —Team Cebu’s woodpushers have toned down in the ongoing action of the FIDE Asian Zonals 3.3 Chess Championships after capping round eight with mostly in their respective matches.
Team Cebu’s highest-ranked woodpusher, National Master (NM) Merben Roque managed to salvage a draw against the heavily-favored Indonesian Grand Master (GM) Susanto Megaranto in round eight. From 13th, NM Roque moved several places down at 16th spot with 5.0 points.
Also, NM Roque’s, NM Rogelio Enriquez Jr. sealed round eight with a draw over Filipino GM Darwin Laylo. From 22nd spot, NM Enriquez moved down one place with 4.5 points.
On the other hand, Women’s International Master (WIM) Bernadette Galas and her teammate Jave Mareck Peteros played against each other in round eight. Their match also ended in a draw. With that, WIM Galas is now at 35th place with 3.5 points followed by Peteros at the 36th spot with 3.5 points as well.
It was only Richard Natividad who grabbed a win in round eight for Team Cebu. This after, his opponent, Malaysian Arena International Master (AIM) Sian Sebastien Chua backed out before the match started.
It easily provided Natividad his second win of the tournament with 4.0 points in hand. He climbed from 37th to 28th place after round eight.
Meanwhile, Jerish John Velarde, was on the losing end after he got defeated by Candidate Master (CM) Jun Ying Tan of Malaysia in round eight. It was Velarde’s second straight defeat. From 27th place, Velarde is now ranked 32nd with 3.5 points.
IM Daniel Quizon leads the overall rankings after round eight with 6.5 points followed by Indonesian GM Novendra Priasmoro with 6.0 points while fellow Indonesian, IM Mohamad Ervan is at third place with 6.0 points as well.
Round nine’s action is still being played as of this writing. Team Cebu’s official playing venue is at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel. They are closely supervised by FIDE arbiters from the RiChessMasters.
/dbs
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