Bacojo, Garcia share second place with 7 others in Singapore Open chessfest
FILIPINO Mark Jay Bacojo defeated a second grandmaster (GM) in a row in scalping Spain’s Eduardo Iturrizaga and jumping into a share of second in a group that included countryman Jan Emmanuel Garcia in the seventh round of the Singapore International Open on Tuesday. The 18-year-old Mr. Bacojo dismantled Mr. Iturrizaga’s English Opening in 42 […]
Tomas Kauer 
FILIPINO Mark Jay Bacojo defeated a second grandmaster (GM) in a row in scalping Spain’s Eduardo Iturrizaga and jumping into a share of second in a group that included countryman Jan Emmanuel Garcia in the seventh round of the Singapore International Open on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old Mr. Bacojo dismantled Mr. Iturrizaga’s English Opening in 42 moves in a game where the former punished the latter for avoiding draw via repetition by relying on a queenside passed pawn in extracting the full point.
When it was over, the Far Eastern University standout emerged with a full rook up and victory on sight.
The round before, Mr. Bacojo brought down Mongolian GM Sumiya Bilguun and will have a chance to claim another GM scalp as he was facing Turkish Vahap Sanal in the eighth and penultimate round Wednesday night.
At the moment, Mr. Bacojo was half a point behind solo leader GM S.P. Sethuraman of India with six points while sharing No. 2 with nine others including Mr. Garcia, who bested fellow International Master Svyatoslav Bazakutsa of Ukraine.
Mr. Garcia, who is seeking his first GM norm, himself has caught a big fish after slaying super GM Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine in the fifth round and held Mr. Iturrizaga in the next.
A full point off the pace was a big pack of five-pointers that included Michael Concio, Jr., who trounced Italian WIM Tea Gueci. — Joey Villar
