MANILA, Philippines – International Master (IM) Jan Emmanuel Garcia and Grandmaster (GM) John Paul Gomez hacked out contrasting victories in the 3rd round of the "Group B" division of the Aeroflot Open Chess Championships in Moscow, Russia on Thursday.

Garcia breezed past IM Antonio Palacios of Venezuela while the Biñan, Laguna ace Gomez survived a gutsy stand by Venezuelan FIDE Master (FM) Felix Jose Ynojosa.

With the win, Garcia raised his total score to 1.5 points, good for a share of 49th to 81st places.

Gomez, on the other hand, now has 1 point to climb into a share of 82nd to 110th place.

In the fourth round, Garcia goes up against FM Sergey Savitsky of Russia while Gomez will play opposite IM Le Quang Long of Vietnam.

GM Emre Can of Turkmenistan, IM Vitaly Sivuk of Ukraine and FM Sergey Grishchenko of Russia toppled their respective rivals to share the top place with 3 points each. – By Marlon Bernardino