By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA International Masters Michael Concio Jr. and Pau Bersamina pulled off vital victories in the eighth and penultimate round Sunday night, April 20, to stay in title hunt in the Bangkok Chess Club Open in Thailand. Concio, a World Cup veteran, downed Australian IM James Morris in 66 moves of a Bogo-Indian Defense while Bersamina, a many-time Olympiad campaigner, outlasted Latvian Arsens Batashevs in 83 moves of an English duel to jump into a tie at third with Indian Grandmaster Babu Lalit with 6.5 points apiece. The two Filipinos were half a point behind co-leaders GM Evgeny Romanov of Macedonia and Malaysian FIDE Master Ang Ern Jie Anderson, who share identical seven points in this nine-round meet. Expect Concio and Bersamina to go all out for a victory against Lalit and Ukrainian GM Vitaliy Bernardskiy in the final round, respectively. A full point off the pace was a group of six pointers that included 16-year-old FIDE Master Christian Gian Carlo Arca, who held Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly to a 42-move draw of a Queen’s Gambit Declined. The result clinched the Panabo, Davao del Norte native the third of the required three IM norms to seal the IM title. For Arca to fully earn it, he has to breach the 2400-rating plateau. So far, he would need more tournaments and wins to get that far as his live rating is currently 2311.2.