MANILA, Philippines – Filipino FIDE Master (FM) Jan Emmanuel Garcia scored the biggest upset in the 2nd Round of the 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships by beating Singaporean grandmaster (GM) Zhang Zhong late Thursday in Subic, Olongapo City.
The 14-year-old Ateneo high school student prevailed against the Singaporean after 58 moves of an English Opening using white pieces.
“Sana magtuloy-tuloy ang magandang nilalaro po natin dito sa Subic,” said Garcia, who also held Asia’s 1st GM Eugene Torre to a draw in the opening round late Wednesday.
With the win, Garcia raised his total points to 1.5 and now shares 10th to 32nd places in the company of his 3rd round opponent GM Tu Hoang Thong of Vietnam.
National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. lauded Garcia’s performance.
“Isa si Jan Emmanuel (Garcia) sa mga youth chessers natin na potential maging world class grandmaster sa hinaharap. I’m confident na makakakuha siya ng title norm dito sa Subic chess,” he added.
Also among those who scored impressive wins is National Master (NM) Allan Macala, who trounced GM Mohammed Al Sayed of Qatar to notch his 2nd straight win.
The Davao City native Macala, who upset International Master (IM) Dronavalli Harika of India in the opening round, will face GM Ni Hua of China in the next round.
So, Barbosa win over separate foes
The Philippines' top rated GM Wesley So and IM Oliver Barbosa, meanwhile, also won their respective matches to join compatriot Macala in the leadership board that includes GM Krishnan Sasikiran and IM Sethuraman of India, GM Yu Yangyi, GM Ding Liren and Yu Ruiyuan of China in the group of 2 pointers.
So bested GM Saleh Salem of the United Arab Emirates while Barbosa beat GM Abhijeet Gupta of India.
“This is my first time to play the Gruenfeld, a fighting-line of defense which helps to avoid an early draw,” said So after the tense, 4-hour match with Salem. The Pinoy chess prodigy prevailed after 37 pushes using the black pieces.
“It’s really a long struggle, and one has to play precisely to keep the momentum. Medyo nagkamali siya nung opening,” added So.
Sharing the limelight is 12-year-old Paulo Bersamina who drew with IM Nasib Ginting of Indonesia and untitled Chen Wang who split the point with GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.
Chess World Cup veteran GM Rogelio Antonio Jr. settled for a draw with IM Rui Gao of China by repetition of positions in 26 moves of the Caro-Kann to remain in the hunt for the $6,000 top prize. The total prize fund for the tournament is $50,000.
Torre settled for his 2nd straight draw, this time against IM Barlo Nadera.
Also drawing their matches were GM Darwin Laylo with GM Dashzegve Sharavdorj of Mongolia; GM Li Chao of China with IM Nguyen Huynh Huy of Vietnam; GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran with GM Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam; and IM Dronavali Jarika of India with Julius Joseph de Ramos.
Not as fortunate was 1st-round sensation Randy Segarra, who yielded to GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia. Segarra earlier pulled the rug from under GM Bui Vinh of Vietnam in one of the 1st-round upsets.
In the women’s division, Woman IM Beverly Mendoza outplayed woman FIDE Master (WFM) Essa Al-Zarouni of UAE to barge into the win column.
Mendoza’s compatriots, Akiko Suede and Aices Salvador, both lost their matches against Xu Huanhua of China and IM Sachdev Tania of India, respectively.
0 comments:
Post a Comment