Sadorra forces draw with Chinese GM

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino Grandmaster Julio Catalino Sadorra fought top seed GM Yu Yangyi of China to a 30-move draw of an English duel to stay half a point off the pace after three rounds of the Asian Continental Chess Championships in Chengdu, China Sunday night.

The 30-year-old US-based Sadorra has two points in a tie with 23 others while six set the pace, including GMs Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa of Mongolia, Wang Hao and Bai Jinshi of China, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Chithambaram Aravindh of India, and Parham Magsoodloo of Iran with 2.5 points each.

Sadorra, who manned the top board for the Philippines in the last two Olympiads, was playing untitled Chinese Zhang Ziji in the fourth round at presstime.

Sadorra drew Indian GM Jha Sriram in the opening round then trampled Chinese Chen Qi B the next.

Another Phl bet, GM John Paul Gomez, fell to Maghsoodloo and remained in the middle of the 69-player field with 1.5 points.

They include GM Jayson Gonzales and International Master Paulo Bersamina, who downed China’s Zhu Jiner and Dai Changren, respectively.

In women’s play, Woman FIDE Master Shania Mae Mendoza shocked Chinese WGM Liu Shilan to hike her total to 1.5 points, one point off the leaders.

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna, however, settled for another, this time with WFM Gotel Atabayeva of Turkmenistan.

The nine-round tournament is staking five slots to the World Cup.