Asian Chess Championships: Macala carries fight for RP chessers

Standings after four rounds: 3.5 points — S. Megaranto (Indonesia), Y. Yu (China),  W. So,
3  - R. Yu (China), A. Macala (RP), L. Ding China, K. Yang  (China), H. Ni (China),  H. Toufighi (Iran),  C. Li  (China),  N. Geetha (India), A. Gupta (India), W. Zhou (China), D. Laylo (RP)

2.5 – H. M. Nguyen (Vietnam), D. Neelotpal (India), K. Kuderinov (Kazakhstan),  T. Bakre (India),  O. Barbosa (RP), A. D. Nguyen (Vietnam), A. Golizadeh (Iran), B. Nadera (RP), J. Garcia (RP),  D. Sharavdorj (Mongolia), P. Darini (Iran), S. Salem (UAE),  K. Sasikiran (India),  T. S. Nguyen (Vietnam),  B. Gundavaa (Mongolia),  J. Zhou (China),  N. T. Nguyen (Vietnam),  E. Ghaemmaghami (Iran), R. Antonio (RP), Y. Wan (China),  J. Gomez (RP), P. Harikirshna (India), T. H. Dao (Vietnam), B. Adhiban (India)

NATIONAL  MASTER Allan Macala turned back GM  Tu Hoang Thong of Vietnam  to scored a huge upset  in the fourth round of the  2010 Asian Individual  Chess Championships at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center in Subic, Olongapo City late Saturday.
The Davao City native Macala, member of the multi-titled Tagaytay chess team in the several national inter-cities and inter-province chess championships, beat the higher-rated  Vietnamese GM  (ELO 2483) to climb into a tie for third to 14 th places with three points.
The 80th-seeded Macala (ELO 2283) has also beaten WIM Dronavai Harika of India in the first  round and GM Mohammed Al-Sayed of  Qatar by default in the second round  before losing to  BM Ni Hua of China in the third round.

World Cup veteran GM Darwin Laylo  trounced compatriot IM Oliver Dimakiling to join the big group of three-pointers in this  US$50,000 tournament organized  by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in cooperation with the Philippine Sports Commission, Department of Tourism, PCSO, PAGCOR and  the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The group is only half appoint behind  GM Wesley So,  GM Yu Yangyi of China and GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia going into the fifth round Sunday.

So,  who played black, and Yu agreed to split the point after  30 moves of the Sicilian Najdorf, while Megaranto also halved the point with GM Li Chao of China  to tow the pack in the chase for the US$6,000 top prize and one of the five slots to the 2011 World Cup.
“There are really no winning lines,” said So, who saw his three-game winning streak come to an end.
When the game was agreed drawn, So, the 2009 Corus Open Group C titlist,  and Yu, the 2004 under-10 world champion, have a queen, two rooks and four pawns each.

The  16-year-old Filipino champion  bared that  he also split the point  wit Yu in last year’s edition of the tournament where  the Chinese eventually finished third with 7.5 points and So landed out of the magic 10 with 6.5 points.

GM Rogelio Antonio Jr , the lone Filipino player who finishe din the Top 10 in last year’s edition alos hel din Subic, settled for another raw against  fellow GM Dashzegve  Sharavdorj of Mongolia.
Also drawing their matches were  GM John Paul Gomez against FM Asghar Glizadeh of India,  IM Oliver Barbosa  against  GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of  Iran and Fide Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia against  Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa of Mongolia.

“ Ang hirap ng laban, mahirap din po magpumilit,” said 14-year-old Jan Emmanuel,  incoming third-year high school student of Ateneo de Manila University how is eyeing his first GM title norm.
Actually, the game of Garcia versus Gundavaa was lasted at 102 moves of Slav defense.

But the biggest disappointment was Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre, who suffered his second straight  setback to FM Namkhai Battulga of Mongolia and remained in the lower half of the standings with only one point in four rounds.

In the women’s division, Chinese IM Wang Yu kept top spot following a draw with compatriot WFM Ding Yixin.

Wang improved to 3.5 points while Ding climbed to three  points, half a point ahead of Vietnamese WGM Nguyen Thi Than An and Chinese WGM Ju Wenjun.
Christy Lamiel Bernales, one of four Filipinas in the fold, beat Huahua Xu of China to raise her score to two points.

Aices Salvador also won over WFM Essa Al-Zarouni of UAE to improve to 1.5 points.

Akiko Suede upset Beverly Mendoza in an all-Filipina encounter.

BY: Marlon Bernardino