DAVAO City's international master (IM) Oliver Dimakiling finish ninth in the final ranking of the 2014 National Championships "Battle of Grandmasters" Open at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) athletes' dining hall yesterday.
Dimakiling tallied a total of five points in the 11-round Swiss System format chessfest. He succumbed to woman Fide master (WFM) Janelle Mae Frayna in the 11th round after settling for a truce with grand master (GM) Rogelio Barcenilla in the 10th.
GM Eugene Torre edged fellow 7.5 scorer IM John Paul Gomez via superior tiebreaks to emerge champion. The latter placed second while FM Paulo Bersamina came third with 6.5 points. Six-pointers Frayna, GM Darwin Laylo, IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia and GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. shared the third to fourth to seventh places while Barcenilla took the solo eighth spot with 5.5 points.
WIM Catherine Perena clinched the women's title by garnering 8.5 points while WNM Christy Bernales (8.0) and WFM Cherry Ann Mejia (7.5) wounded up in the next two spots.
The weeklong competition was organized by the National Chess Federation of the `Philippines (NCFP). (MLSA)