Stays joint leader after 3 rds Sadorra topples Chinese IM

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino Grandmaster Julio Catalino Sadorra overpowered Chinese International Master Wang Chen to remain in the lead with Qatari GM Mohammed Al-Sayed after three rounds of the $100,000 Asian Continental Chess Championships dubbed the “Manny Pacquiao Cup” at the Midas Hotel and Casino in Pasay City Monday night.

Sadorra, 26, employed a rare variation of a French Defense right into Wang’s kingside then pounced on his Chinese foe’s dubious pawn move on the h-file in opening play that created several attacking chances.

Sadorra, majoring in Business Administration at University of Texas-Dallas, forced Wang to give up a pawn to prevent the Filipino from trapping his rook, returned the pawn several moves later before coming up with a combination and a mate threat that forced the latter to resign on the 30th.

“That pawn move was a mistake,” said Sadorra, the second highest-ranked Filipino here with an ELO rating of 2561 behind eighth pick GM Oliver Barbosa. 

The victory thus kept Sadorra in the lead with Al-Sayed, who showed his mastery of the Slav Defense by shocking No. 5 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam in 45 moves, with three points apiece in the event backed by Café Puro, Alaxan, Oriental and Motolite Battery.

Sadorra and Al Sayed, ranked 26th in this nine-round Swiss System tournament organized by the Eugene Torre Foundation and sponsored by Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, duel for the solo lead at press time.

Emmanuel Emperado, who surprised the field with victories over GMs Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa of Mongolia and G.N. Gopal of India, ran into No. 2 Chinese super GM Li Chao and fell in 31 moves of a Queen’s Pawn game.

Li’s victory hiked his output to 2.5 points for a share of third with Filipino GMs Darwin Laylo, John Paul Gomez, Richard Bitoon and Mark Paragua.

Gomez blew a slight positional advantage, enabling top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam to salvage a draw via perpetual check in 45 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense.

Laylo battered IM Chito Garma’s Queen’s Indian defense to prevail in 43 moves; Bitoon humbled Indian GM Subramanian Arun Prasad; while Paragua crushed Singaporean IM Goh Wei Ming Kevin in 42 moves.

Other 2.5 pointers were Le, Indian GM Baskaran Adhiban, who downed Bangladeshi GM Niaz Murshed, and Chinese IM Wan Yunguo, who stopped Filipino FIDE Master Mari Joseph Turqueza’s giant-slaying ways with a victory.

Many-time national champion and World Chess Olympiad veteran GM Joey Antonio turned back a tough IM Barlo Nadera to post his first win of the tournament after back-to-back draws to lead the two pointers group, which includes Emperado and Filipino FM Haridas Pascua, who split the point with No. 14 Indian GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit.