Dimakiling stays close to leaders

MANILA, Philippines — IM Oliver Dimakiling continued to hold his ground against the fancied bets, forcing top seed Grandmaster Karen Grigoryan of Armenia to a draw and staying half a point off the pace after five rounds of the fourth Johor International Chess Open in Johor, Malaysia Wednesday.

Dimakiling    earlier split the point with No. 2 GM Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam, keeping the Filipino ace in the hunt with four points for joint third with seven others.

FIDE Master Novendra Priasmoro of Indonesia and IM Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan downed IM Yeoh LI Tian of Malaysia and Nguyen, respectively, to share the lead with 4.5 points.

Joining Dimakiling at four points are Grigoryan, who topped the Penang Open last week, GMs M. R. Venkatesh and R. R. Laxman of India, GM Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan, Jaykumar Shete Sammed of India and IM K. Rathnakaran of India, and IM Li Bo of China.

Dimakiling earlier beat Malaysia’s Kaushal Khandhar, Singapore’s FIDE Master Ashvin Sivakumar and Indonesia’s Jaykumar Shete Sammed before forcing the favored Nguyen to a standoff in the fourth round.

Far Eastern U standout John Marvin Miciano fell to Sammed and remained and fell behind by two points.