MANILA -- Filipino International Master (IM) Richard Bitoon split the point with Iranian Grandmaster Ehsan Ghaemmaghami to join the share of second place in the 4th President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup International Chess Championship Tuesday at the Duty Free Fiestamall in Paranaque City.

Bitoon, who now has 5 points after seven rounds of play, joined six other foreign contenders in a seven-way tie for second place.

Other chess players in second place are GMs Anton Filipov of Uzbekistan, Meng Kong Wong of Singapore, Mikhael Mchedlishvili and Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia, Tigran Kotanjian and Armenia and Getha Gopal Nayanan of India.

Vietnamese GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen is the current tournament leader with 5.5 points.

Bitoon will face next Filippov in eight and penultimate round of the $40,000-Swiss tournament.

Meanwhile, six Filipino players have made it into the eight-way tie for third place.

Sharing the third spot are IMs Ronald Dableo, Oliver Dimakiling, Gms Buenaventura Villamayor, Rogelio Antonio, Darwin laylo and John Paul Gomez. They all garnered 4.5 points after seven rounds of play.

Joining them are foreign GMs Ghaemmaghami of Iran and Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan.

The nine-round FIDE event offers a $6,000 top prize to the over-all champion. With a report from Marlon Bernardino