DAVAO City’s international master (IM) Oliver Dimakiling lost his final match, relegating him to third place in the recently-concluded Thailand Chess Festival Open in Pattaya, Thailand.
The ninth-seeded Dimakiling, who only needed one norm to earn a grandmaster (GM) title, bowed to second seed IM Iniyan P of India.
The Dabawenyo was pacing the chessfest at the end of the eighth round but the final round defeat cost him the title. He only needed a draw to become champion.
“Third place ra. Second place tong nakapildi nako kay personal encounter man first tiebreak (I only finished third. The one who defeated placed second due to tiebreaks),” he told SunStar Davao in a Facebook interview.
Russian IM Tsydypov Zhamsaran clinched the title of the tournament.
Dimakiling pulled off wins over Malaysia’s Ahmad Muzzaffar, India’s V Varshini, Philippines’ Louie Salvador, Tsydypov, Russia’s Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh, India GM P Karthikeyan and Germany’s GM Schebler Gerhard. But he also succumbed to Vietnamn GM Nguyen Anh Dung. (MLSA)