DAVAO City's international master (IM) John Marvin Miciano and Ella Grace Moulic remained in contention for titles after trailing leaders by just one point after Round 6 of the ongoing 19th Asean+ Age-Group Chess Championships at The Royal Mandaya Hotel Friday.
Top seed Miciano, 17, of Far Eastern University, tallied four points. He forced a tie in his fifth round match with Filipino Fide master (FM) Stephen Rome Pangilinan before beating Vietnam's Pham Minh Hieu.
Miciano grabbed the solo fourth spot behind second seed Filipino IM Paolo Bersamina and Indonesian FM who shared the first and second spots with identical five points while Indian FM Sai Agni Jeevitesh was third with 4.5 points.
Seventh-seed Moulic registered 4.5 points to share the second and third spot with Indonesia WFM Dita Karenza while top seed Filipino WFM Shania Mae Mendoza enjoyed a solo lead with 5.5 points.
After losing the fourth round, she bounced back with a win over Vietnam's WFM and sixth-seed Vu Thi Dieu Ai after drawing Karenza in the fifth round.
Dabawenya Zsuzsa Grace Tabudlong was at distant 11th with 2.5 points.
Irish Yngayo, meanwhile, kept her hopes alive as she climbed the third place of the girls 16 event with fellow 4.5-scorer woman candidate master Nguyen Vu Thu Hien of Vietnam who was second. Top seed WFM Bach Ngoc Thuy Duong of Vietnam led the category.
Yngayo, seeded 31st, kept her unbeaten record by eking out a win over Divine Grace Luna and splitting point with fourth seed Le Thuy An of Vietnam in the last two rounds.
In the seniors 50, top seed Dabawenyo national master Alexander Lupian took a share of the lead, scoring 4.5 points along with Vietnam's Tong Thai Hung.