DAVAO City's international master (IM) Oliver Dimakiling trailed at eighth place after fourth round yesterday of the ongoing 2014 National Championships "Battle of Grandmasters" Open at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) athletes' dining hall.
The third-seeded Dimakiling has earned 1.5 points thus far in the 11-round Swiss System format tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). He split the point with second-seeded grand master John Paul Gomez in Round 4 on the heels of a third round draw with top-seeded Fide mater Paulo Bersamina, second-round loss to 11th-seeded grand master (GM) Eugenio Torre and a first round standoff with 10th-seeded IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia.
He was playing GM Darwin Laylo in Round 5 as of yesterday presstime.
Laylo shared the 10th to 12th place with similar one point with GM Richard Bitoon and IM Joel Pimentel.
Torre stayed on top of the men's open standings with three points, besting Garcia and woman Fide master Janelle Mae Frayna via superior tie breaks. Garcia and Frayna occupied the second and third place, respectively.
Gomez and Bersamina, who each posted identical 2.5 points, shared the fourth to fifth places followed by two-pointers national master (NM) Roel Abelgas and GM Rogelio Barcenilla.
In the distaff side, WNM Christy Lamiel Bernales grabbed the solo spot with 3.5 points while WFM Cherry Ann Mejia (3.0) was second and WNM Jean Karen Enriquez (2.5) third and WIM Catherine Perena (2.5) fourth.
Rounding up the top 10 were Aurora Kim Dantes (2.0), Queenie Lyn Reyes (1.5), Arvie Lozano (1.5), WFM Shania Mae Mendoza (1.0), WNM Jedara Docena (1.0) and Gladys Hazelle Romero (1.0).
Ruth Aubrey de Guzman was at the cellar with 0.5.