Laylo gains tie for 2nd place Bests Kazakh GM in 7th round

GRANDMASTER Darwin Laylo exacted revenge over GM Murtas  Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhtan Wednesday night to carry the fight for the  Philippines in the first Fide president Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup chess championships at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. The 2010 Chess Olympiad-bound Laylo deviated from a losing game he played against Kazhgaleyev during the recent sixth Prospero Pichay Cup and emerged victorious with black after 55 moves of the Gruenfeld. It was a fitting follow-up to Laylo’s conquest of Indian GM Chanda Sandipan in the sixth round, giving the 30-year-old pride of Lipa City 5.5 points, just half a point behind solo leader GM Zhao Jun of China. “I’m very happy with his victory,” said Laylo. “He beat me in the Pichay Cup because I went for a win despite handling black.” It was a good day for the Philippines as GM Eugene Torre stunned Chinese GM Ni Hua in 31 moves of the Larsen, while National Master Emmanuel Senador shocked Armenian GM Tigran Kotanjian to join Laylo and GM Wesley So as top contenders for the $10,000 top purse. Flashing brilliant form, the 58-year-old Torre exploited Ni’s weak pawn structure in the endgame to clinch his first win over the fourth-seeded Chinese player (Elo 2645). Second seed So split the point with Zhao. Sharing second to fourth places with Laylo were top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who downed Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami; and third seed GM Zhou Jianchao of China, who bested Singaporean GM Zhang Zhong.   The 16-year-old So and Torre, who will join Laylo in the RP team to the Chess Olympiad from Sept. 19-Oct. 3, stood at 5.0 points with GMs Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan, Ling Diren of China and  Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia. Laylo was set to do battle with Zhou in the eighth round late Thursday with So and Torre battling Ding and Filippov, respectively. Filippov, the Pichay Cup champion, recovered from an inferior position to subdue Filipino GM Jayson Gonzales. Filipino IMs Rolando Nolte and Oliver Barbosa stayed in the running for a top 10 finish by whipping Rhobel Legaspi and IM Barlo Nadera, respectively, and climbing to 4.5 points.