After six rounds of grueling competition, Severino is now considered a "dark horse" for the championship and could be the next FIDE master.
"I’m quite surprised to be on the lead. There are many talented players in this tournament," he said.
After a draw with top-seed Susanto Magranto, Indonesian national master, Severino surged to the top with 5.0 points. He has a half-point lead over ASEAN under-16 chess tournament champion Oliver Barbosa of the Philippines.
The top-ranked players in the tournament include Julio Catalino Sadorra, the Philippines’ reigning under-14 champion. Other titled players come from Vietnam, Mongolia and Singapore.
Severino, a wheelchair-bound paraplegic from Silay City in Negros Occidental, was brought to Bataan by the Social Security System (SSS), which sponsored his participation.
He and his father Saul, who serves as his coach and travelling companion, said they are thankful to SSS chairman and president Carlos Arellano for making it possible for him to join the tournament.
"If not for the SSS, I will not be here. Everybody was focused on players from Manila and other countries," he said.
Severino, who started playing competitive chess at seven, became a regional champion at age nine and the national kiddies champion at the age of 11.
He was one of six physically-challenged chess players sponsored by the SSS in the P1 million Chess Pambansa Millennium Grand Prix last March.