Suede shocks Furtado, wrests Asian Jrs lead

TAGAYTAY CITY—Mikee Charlene Suede continued her rampage in the 2014 Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships yesterday, toppling Indian Woman International Master Furtado Ivana Maria from her perch at Tagaytay International Convention Center.

Ably exploiting white, Suede forced Ivana Maria to resign after 62 moves of a Center Counter Defense en route to her fifth straight win that gave the University of the Philippines Physical Education senior 5.5 points after seven rounds.

The 20-year-old Suede actually started poorly, dropping her first game against Jerlyn Mae San Diego and drawing her second against India’s Joshi Supriya before trouncing Bangladesh’s Zahuratul Zannat, United Arab Emirates’ Abdallah Aldhaheri Shaikha, WFM J Saranya of India and WFM Rucha Pujari of India in succession.

Desperately prolonging the inevitable, the top-seeded Furtado, 15, was teary-eyed when she extended her hand in congratulation to Suede.

Far Eastern University high school standout Merill Jacutina also pulled off a surprise when he held Indian defending champion International Master Srinath Narayanan to a draw after 51 moves of a Sicilian Opening.

With 6.0 points, however, Narayanan kept his distance from closest pursuer Fide Master Paulo Bersamina, who was held to a marathon 113-move draw by Mongolian FM Sumiya Bilguun.

Bersamina, already a Tromso Chess Olympian and World Juniors campaigner at 16, was at 5.0 points in the Open division of the nine-round tournament confined to players 20 years and under.

IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia also drew with Daryl Unix Samantila and was at 4.5 points in the event being hosted by Cavite Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, the World Chess Federation (Fide) secretary general, and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission through its chair Richie Garcia.

The eighth and penultimate round is being played at presstime with Suede tackling Marie Antoinette San Diego (5.0 points) and Furtado tangling with compatriot WFM J Saranya (4.5).

San Diego, also a World Juniors campaigner, bested Indian Pv Nandhidhaa while Saranya toppled WFM Sholpan Zhylkaidarova (4.0) of Kazakhstan.

Jacutina was lodged at 4.0 points with Samantila and Bilguun.

Other seventh round matches saw Candidate Master Marc Christian Nazario (3.5) subdue Renz Marvin Santos (1.0); and Istraleito Rilloraza (3.5) down Alzarovni Ahmad (1.0). Guam’s Radcliffe Paras (3.0) and UAE’s Al-Rashedi Mayed (3.0) won by default over Bangladesh’s Haque Siam Ikramul (3.5) and Nepal’s Bibek Thing (3.0).