Grandmaster Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor along with chess wizard Wesley So secured the only wins in the second round in the "Battle of GMs" at the Pavilion Hotel in Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte province Wednesday.

Competitions on Day 2 were so tough that only Villamayor and So managed to score wins over their respective opponents. The others chess players, including seasoned GM Eugene Torre, were forced to split their point with rivals after intense match ups.

Villamayor (ELO 2471), who earlier succumbed to So in the first round, defeated International Master (IM) Ronald Dableo (2432) after a marathon of 56 moves of the Slav.

Villamayor will next face GM Mark Paragua (ELO 2537) in the tournament organized by Phoenix Petroleum and Dapitan City.

Top seed GM So (ELO 2627) vanquished GM John Paul Gomez (ELO 2539) in 25 moves of the French Defense.

So, the country’s youngest GM, will meet up with Torre (ELO 2560) in the third round of the competition being managed by tournament director Willie Abalos.

The other second-round matches ended in draws. These were between Nolte and GM Rogelio Antonio Jr; Torre and GM Jayson Gonzalez; Paragua and GM Darwin Laylo; and IM Julio Catalino Sadorra and IM Richard Bitoon.

The GMs are competing for the P200,000 top prize and the championship trophy.

The runner-up and the third placer will receive P100,000 and P80,000, respectively. The fourth placer will get P60,000 and the fifth placer will bring home P40,000.

Cash prizes will be given up to the 12th finisher.

Rankings after Round 2
1 GM So (2 points)
2 GM Antonio (1.5 points)
3 IM Bitoon (1.5 points)
4 IM Nolte (1 point)
5 GM Torre (1 point)
6 GM Villamayor (1 point)
   GM Gomez (1 point)
8 GM Laylo (1 point)
9 IM Sadorra (0.5 point)
10 GM Gonzales (0.5 point)
      IM Dableo (0.5 point)
      GM Paragua (0.5 point)