UNHERALDED Emmanuel Emperado claimed his second straight Grandmaster victim Sunday night to hog the limelight in the Manny Pacquiao Cup Asian Continental Chess Championship at Midas Hotel in Pasay City.
The 26-year-old Emperado, a BS Management (Finance Major) graduate of De La Salle University, stunned Indian GM GN Gopal after 35 moves of a Sicilian Defense to share the lead with countrymen GMs Julio Catalino Sadorra and John Paul Gomez and four others in the nine-round Swiss System event.
In Saturday’s opener, Emperado, son of three-time Olympian and chess organizer Mila, downed Mongolian GM Bayarsaikhan Gundava as he flashed the form that made him champion of the 1st Florencio Campomanes tournament (Challenger section) in 2010.
The United States-based Sadorra tamed International Master Husein Aziz Nezad after 26 moves of a Slav Defense while Gomez trounced Theolifus Taher Yoseph of Indonesia after 46 moves of a French Defense.
Also with perfect 2.0 points in the Open division were Vietnamese GMs Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Qatari GM Mohammed Al-Sayed and Chinese IM Wang Chen.
Le, the tournament top seed with an Elo of 2714, thwarted Mongolian GM Tsegmed Batchuluun while Ngoc, ranked fifth with a 2631 Elo, whipped compatriot IM Nguyen Van Huy. Al-Sayed subdued Indian GM Negi Parimarjan while Wang dumped Indian GM MR Lalith Babu.
According to Sadorra, a senior business administration student at the University of Texas-Dallas, Nezad fell into his prepared line.
“My rook to g7 sacrifice in the 19th move was crucial as either I get his queen or he faces mate,” said Sadorra.
Chinese GM Li Chao, seeded second with a 2686 Elo, settled for a draw with countryman IM Wan Yunguo and led a 17-man group that included six Filipinos at 1.5 points.
In the women’s division, Chinese WGMs Huang Qian and Guo Qi, Vietnamese IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Indian WGM Mary Ann Gomes and Uzbek WGM Nafisa Muminova kept top spot with 2.0 points each.