Russian shares chess lead

MANILA, Philippines - Third seed GM Boris Savchenko of Russia outlasted fourth pick GM Levan Pentsulaia of Georgia in 60 moves of a Zukefort Opening to snatch a share of the lead after six rounds of the Philippine International Chess Championships at Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel in Zambales yesterday.

The win catapulted Savchenko from a share of third spot to a three-way logjam at the helm alongside top seed GM Wang Hao of China and No. 6 GM Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus.

Hao and second pick GM Anton Demchenko of Russia went for a victory as the two battled in an old line of the super-sharp Sicilian Defense but ended up agreeing to a 30-move draw after a series of exchanges that simplified the position.

Kovalev, for his part, could not cash in on a slight positional advantage early and settled for a 38-move standoff with Georgian GM Merab Gagunashvili in the classical variation of the Ruy Lopez.

The draw kept Savchenko in a group of chessers with four points that included Gagunashvili and Woman GM Lei Tingjie, who fought Filipino GM John Paul Gomez to 19 moves of another Zukefort Opening.

Gomez, the highest ranked local bet in this event being seeded ninth, remained a full point behind the leaders with 3.5 points.

Three more Filipinos were part of that group, including IM Haridas Pascua, who escaped with a 37-move deadlock with No. 5 GM Mikheil Mchedishvili of Georgia.