Atotubo, from Bacolod City, downed fellow NM Carlito La Vega, 1.5-.5, to advance to the semifinals against FIDE Master Jesse Sales.
Sales, representing Calamba, edged Fami Pazon of Surigao City, 1.5-0.5.
Lupian, from Davao del Norte, waylaid NM Cesar Mariano of Iloilo City, 2-0, and will next face NM Ernesto Jayme, who downed Vicente Lee, 1.5-0.5.
The tournament, staged by the PCF and sponsored by Pascual Laboratories, maker of the brain vitamin Glutaphos, uses the knockout format, with each contestant playing the white and black pieces. A win counts as one point and a draw a half point.
NM Reggie Olay of Kidapawan, Cotabato ousted NM Eric Gloria, 1.5-0.5. He will battle NM Horizon Villanueva who outplayed Francis Glen Panes of Talisay, Negros Occidental, 1.5-0.5 in the first tiebreaker.
A tie after the first two games is resolved through a tiebreaker, a 25-minute, two-game affair, with the winner stepping into the next round.
Subsequent ties are broken through a 15-minute two-game setto, and, if necessary, a five-minute blitz.
Joselito Tapulgo of Bacolod and NM Hamed Nouri of Lambuwao, Iloilo also played to a draw, with Tapulgo winning the tiebreaker, 1.5-0.5. Tapulgo goes against Misamis Oriental’s NM Rogelio Verganio, who also defeated Pagadian City bet Ernesto Fernandez in the first tiebreaker, 1.5-0.5
Verganio is sponsored by Misamis Oriental Governor Antonio Calingin.