Bersamina, top seed fall
Credit to Author: Tempo Online| Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 07:50:46 +0000
By Rey Bancod
International Master Paulo Bersamina lost with the white pieces Tuesday, highlighting another difficult day for Filipino players in the second round of the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships at the Tiara Hotel in Makati.
Grandmasters John Paul Gomez, the country’s top-ranked entry, suffered his second straight loss on a day a 19-year-old rising star from Indonesia toppled top seed GM Wang Hao of China.
Chinese GMs Ni Hua, Lu Shanglei and Wei Yi were among nine players with perfect scores with another 12 players carrying 1.5 points.
Also with 2 points were GM S.P. Sethuraman and Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, GM Alireza Firouzja of Iran, FIDE Master Lye Lik Zang of Malaysia and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
A day after upsetting GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Bersamina stumbled against Abdusattorov, a 14-year-old prodigy from Uzbekistan.
The loss dropped Bersamina to a big group that includes compatriots IM Oliver Dimakiling, IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, IM Roderick Nava, IM Ricardo de Guzman, untitled Michael Concio Jr., IM Daniel Quizon and IM Haridas Pascua.
In a pair of reversals, Quizon shocked Gomez while Concio, the lowest ranked player in the field with 1991, upset IM John Marvin Miciano.
The day’s biggest winner was FIDE Master Mohamad Ervan who stunned Wang whose ELO of 2730 dwarfs that of the Indonesian’s 2357.
Ervan leads a big group of 1.5-pointers. The others are GM B. Adhiban, GM Babu Lalith, GM Abhijit Kunte and GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit of India, GM Tran Tuan Minh and IM Nguyen Anh Khoi of Vietnam, GM Rinat Jumabayev and Rustam Khusnutdinov of Kazakhstan, GM Wen Yang of China, GM Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and IM Nguyen Anh Khoi of Vietnam.
Wang, on the other hand, remains stuck with 0.5 point in the company of GMs Joey Antonio and Darwin Laylo and eight others.
Antonio drew with John Merill Jacutina while Laylo split the point with FM Mari Joseph Turqueza.
In the women’s section, IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen and WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram share the lead with IM Rout Padmini of India, WFM Turmunkh Munkhzul of Mongolia and WIM Zhu Jiner of China with 2 points apiece.
The best-placed Filipinas are WIM Bernadette Galas, WIM Kylen Joy Mordido, WFM Allaney Jia Doroy and WFM Shania Mae Mendoza with 1 point each.
WGM Janelle Mae Frayna, the country’s top bet, went down to Indian WIM P.V. Nandhidhaa.