TAGAYTAY City – Two-time Olympian Chito Garma settled for a quick draw with IM Petronio Roca even as defending champion GM Eugene Torre bounced back into contention in the seventh round of the 9th Asian Seniors Chess Championship at the Tagaytay International Convention Center here Friday.
Garma, who played white, and Roca split the point after only 22 moves to keep their 1-2 positions with six and 5.5 points, respectively, in the 34-player, nine-nation tournament organized by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
Torre subdued FM Adrian Pacis to keep his title-retention bid alive with five points on four wins, two draws and only one loss.
The 67-year-old Filipino champion, who lost to Garma in the fifth round and drew with No. 2 seed FM Oleg Rinas of Kazakhstan the following round, is a full point behind Garma with two rounds remaining.