Viet GM reasserts mastery over So

MANILA, Philippines—Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem lived up to his top seeding Tuesday, besting second-ranked Filipino GM Wesley So in the fifth round of the first Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup chess championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The 19-year-old Le, who topped the Aeroflot Open and shared first place in the Moscow Open this year, gained control with white after a middle-game skirmish to tame the 16-year-old So in 38 moves of the Slav.

 

Le, runner-up in last month’s Dortmund Chess Meeting and So’s conqueror in the Asian Continental Chess Championship in Subicearly this year, also beat compatriot Nguyen Huyn Minh in the fourth round late Monday to climb to 4.0 points, half a point behind solo leader GM Zhao Jun of China.

 

Zhao stunned countryman GM Zhou Jianchao in the fourth round and then drew with GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia to boost his bid for the $10,000 champion’s purse.

 

The Chinese juggernaut made its presence felt with Li Chao and Ling Diren also scoring.

 

Li trounced GM Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia, while Ling downed newly crowned Pichay Cup champion GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan to share second spot with Le.

 

Also gaining ground were GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan, who subdued GM Dashzegve Sharavdorj of Mongolia; and GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran, who trounced out-of-form Filipino GM Eugene Torre.

 

GMs Darwin Laylo and John Paul Gomez, IM Richard Bitoon and NM Oliver Barbosa carried the fight for the embattled Filipinos.

 

Laylo tripped IM Barlo Nadera, Gomez split the point with GM Zhou Jianchao of China, Bitoon drew with GM Tamaz Gelashvili of Georgia and Barbosa stunned IM Yves Ranola to catch up with So at 3.5 points.