NCFP president orders game replayed

Source: Susan Polgar Chess Daily News So, Antonio 6th round match to be replayed 03/28/2009 06:41 PM

MANILA, Philippines – The sixth round match between grandmasters Wesley So and Rogelio Antonio Jr., which ended in a draw, in the Phoenix Petroleum-Dapitan City “Battle of GMs" chess championship will be replayed. The decision was made by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch" Piichay, who also nullified the result of the match because of its very quick ending. He added that the replay of the match will be on Monday. The NCFP president justified his decision by citing the association’s past rulings regarding matches that were played in less than 30 moves and ended in draws. Because of this development, So and Antonio will maintain their fifth-round scores. So is unbeaten in five matches and has accumulated 10 points while Antonio has seven. In other matches, GMs Darwin Laylo forced fellow GM Buenaventura “Bong" Villamayor into a stalemate after a marathon 119 moves of the Slav to move up to solo second spot with 7.5 points. Laylo gained 1.5 points in his stalemate win based on the points system being used in the tournament where a win gets two points, a draw one point, a loss no point and a stalemate 1.5 point with the stalemated player getting 0.5 points. Tied for third to fourth spots were GM John Paul Gomez, who halved the point with International Master Richard Bitoon in 50 moves of the Sicilian, and Antonio. GMs Eugene Torre, Mark Paragua and Jayson Gonzales’ matches also ended in draws. Torre, Asia’s first GM, halved the point with IM Julio Catalino Sadorra in 60 moves of the English, Paragua drew with IM Rolando Nolte in 32 moves of the Slav while Gonzales split the point with IM Ronald Dableo in 32 moves of the King’s Indian. The three – Torre, Paragua and Bitoon – are tied for fifth to eight spots while Sadorra, is alone at ninth spot. – GMANews.TV

Source: http://www.gmanews.tv