MANILA, Philippines—Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So surged ahead as expected along with long shot local bets International Masters Rolando Nolte and Barlo Nadera.
The 16-year-old So downed IM Master Petronio Roca Saturday night and GM Darwin Laylo Sunday to share the lead with Nolte, Nadera and seven foreign GMs after two rounds of the first Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup chess championships at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Nolte kept pace with So by besting Merben Roque in the opener and stunning newly crowned Pichay Cup champion GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan.
Nadera, on the other hand, trounced Indian Candidate Master Vinod Bhagwat then toppled Georgian GM Tamaz Gelashvili.
Also grabbing a piece of top spot were Chinese GMs Zhou Jianchao Ni Hua , Li Chao, Zhao Jun and Ling Diren, GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan, GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia and GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran.
Seeded second in the 70-player field with an Elo of 2674, So crushed Roca in 33 moves of an Anti-King’s Indian system.
So, who returned to the country Thursday after campaigning in the Biel Young GMs and the Rising Stars vs Experience chess team tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, then outwitted 2010 Chess Olympiad teammate Laylo to prop up his title bid in the nine-round tournament offering $10,000 to the champion.
Indian WGM Padmini Rout and Felipino Mari Joseph Turqueza provided the early fireworks.
The 16-year-old Padmini, bronze medalist in the World Junior Chess Championships held in Czarna, Poland, early this month, won by time forfeit over Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre in the first round and then drew with Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjian to lead a big bunch of 1.5 pointers.
Turqueza, a 17-year-old legal management student of De La Salle University, upstaged IM Oliver Dimakiling in the first round and then split the point with top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.
The rest of the matches went true to form.
Janchao, spearhead of the star-studded Chinese contingent, hurdled Fide Master Julius Joseph de Ramos and GM Kivanch Haznedaroglu of Turkey; Ni tamed FM Haridas Pascua and GM-candidate Ronald Dableo; Li dumped Rajpara Ankit of India and compatriot Yu Lie; Kazhgaleyev subdued IM Tirto of Indonesia and GM Jayson Gonzales and GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia whippedTimothy Chan and IM Sadikin Irwanto of Indonesia.
Another Chinese, WGM Shen Yang of China defeated Jedara Docena and WGM Thi Bao Hoang of Vietnam, respectively, to grab the early lead in the women’s division with 2.0 points.
MOST READ
LATEST STORIES