THE PHILIPPINES’ Michael Concio, Jr. and Paulo Bersamina successfully navigated their respective tasks in the eighth and second-to-last round to stay in championship contention at the Bangkok Chess Club Open in Thailand on Sunday night.
Both Filipino International Masters (IMs) utilized their outstanding endgame skills to secure victories—one with Mr. Concio defeating Australian IM James Morris in 66 moves during a Bogo Indian match, and the other as Mr. Bersamina achieved a marathon 83-move victory over Latvian Arsens Batashevs in an English encounter.
Their victories propelled them into a three-way tie for third place with 6.5 points each, alongside Indian Grandmaster (GM) Babu Lalit.
They trailed by half a point behind the leading Macedonian GM Evgeny Romanov and Malaysian FIDE Master (FM) Ang Ern Jie Anderson, who both had seven points each.
In order to have a shot at the title, they must secure a win in their final round match and hope that Messrs. Romanov and Ang settle for a draw.
Mr. Concio was competing against Mr. Lalit while Mr. Bersamina faced Ukrainian GM Vitaliy Bernardskiy.
Another Filipino competitor, FM Christian Gian Carlo Arca, aimed for victory but ended up sharing the point with Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly through perpetual check.
This draw, however, secured the 16-year-old pride of Panabo, Davao del Norte, his third of the three necessary IM norms required to attain the IM title.
All that is left for Mr. Arca, who has accumulated six points, is to ascend to the 2400-rating threshold to officially become an IM.
His current live rating stands at 2311.2.
Additionally, Mr. Arca is in contention to earn his first GM norm if he defeats former world contender GM Nigel Short from England in the final round. — Joey Villar
