Manila—US based Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Julio Catalino Sadorra cruised to his third straight victory late Monday, after claiming the scalp of Chinese International Master (IM) Wang Chen (ELO 2498) and forging a fourth-round showdown with Qatari GM Mohammed Al-Sayed (ELO 2502) in the $100,000 Manny Pacquiao Cup Asian Continental Chess Championship at Midas Hotel and Casino in Pasay City.
Sadorra, seeded 9th in the 76-player field with an ELO of 2561, prevailed after 30 moves of French defense, King’s Indian attack variation using the black pieces.
The 26th seed Al-Sayed, on the other hand, toppled 5th seed Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (ELO 2632) after 45 moves of Slav defense in the tournament organized by the GM Eugene Torre Chess Foundation and sponsored by world boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao.
The event offers a total of $100,000 in cash prizes and five slots to this year’s World Cup in Tromso, Norway.
The nine-round Swiss-System event is held under the auspices of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by it’s Chairman/President Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., the Asian Chess Federation and FIDE.
Meanwhile, top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, 2nd seed GM Li Chao and 21st seed IM Wan Yunguo of China, 11th seed GM Baskaran Adhiban of India, 12th seed GM Mark Paragua, 20th seed GM John Paul Gomez, 24th seed GM Darwin Laylo and 37th seed GM Richard Bitoon are tied at 3rd to 10th places with 2.5 points each.
Le, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2714, split the point with Gomez after 46 moves of Gruenfeld defense while Li, the second highest-rated player with an ELO of 2686 stopped the winning run of giant killer and untitled Emmanuel Emperado after 31 moves of Catalan Opening.
Yunguo beat Fide Master Mari Joseph Turqueza, Adhiban routed 29th seed GM Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh, Paragua trounced 31st seed IM Goh Weiming of Singapore, Laylo subdued 54th seed compatriot IM Chito Garma and Bitoon outclassed 19th seed GM Subramanian Arun Prasad of India.
In the women’s division, IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul of Mongolia upset WGM Nafisa Muminova of Uzbekistan and WIM Zhai Mo of China edged WNM Jan Jodilyn Fronda to create a six-way tie for first place along with WGMs Huang Qian and Guo Qi of China, WGM Mary Ann Gomes of India and IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen of Vietnam with 2.5 points each.
The women are disputing the lone slot to the 2014 Women’s World Championship.