Moscow Open: Barbosa keeps hopes alive
by Ed Andaya
Wednesday, 02 February 2011 20:19
MOSCOW, Russia – Former national junior champion IM Oliver Barbosa made his presence felt by winning over Valery Ponomarencko and FM Grigoriy Morozov of Russia to keep his hopes alive in the fourth round of the Moscow Open chess championship at the Russia State Social University here Tuesday.
Barbosa, who is hoping to finally win a major international championship in a long and storied career, improved his total to 3.5 points on three wins and one draw in this prestigious, nine-round competition hosted by the Moscow Chess Federation
Barbosa, who debuted with a win over untitled Joel Leost of France in the first round before drawing with Vissarion Kondratiev of Russia the following round, climbed into a heavy tie for 13th to 50th places with 3.5 points
The 24-year old campaigner from Pasig City, who rose to prominence by winning the national junior championship and the national under-18 title in 2004, now faces an acid test when he meets second seed Gm Aelxander Beliavsky of Slovenia in the fifth round.
Barbosa’s compatriot, GM John Paul Gomez, had mixed result.
Gomez defeated WFM Natalija Popova of Russia in the third round but lost to GM Yu Yangyi of China the following round to remain with three points on three wins and one loss.
A member of the Philippine team which bagged the silver medal in the recent Asian Games in Guangzhou, Gomez won over untitled Konstantin Stankevich of Russia in the first round and FM Sergey Brjukov of Russia in the second round.
The 24-year-old campaigner from Binan, Laguna, who earned his GM title during the 38th World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Olympiad in 2008, will meet IM Dmitry Losey of Russia in the fifth round.
Top seed GM Denis Khismatullin (ELO 2649) of Russia demolished Shojaat Ghane of Iran in the third round but was held to a draw by compatriot GM Alexander Fominyh of Russia in the fourth round.
Khismatulin dropped to 3.5 points.
Full article here.
Can he get GM norm?