Paragua, Dableo stay on top after quick draw

Conserving their strength for the crucial grind ahead, Ronald Dableo and Mark Paragua wisely agreed to draw their Sicilian game to remain on top of the heap in the fifth round Tuesday of the Asian Zonals at the First Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

It only took 15 moves for the Filipino bets to halve the point and hike their outputs to four points going into the sixth round of this 9-round Swiss system event, otherwise known as the Zone 3.2a championships where the top two players will gain berths to the Men’s World Championship this year.

But the draw enabled lowly-ranked Liem Le Quang to gain a share of the lead as the local bet, No. 28 in a field of 36, upended compatriot Hoang Minh Pham to notch his fourth point.

A pair of draws likewise stalled the bid of the two Filipino GMs in the fold but Joey Antonio and Eugene Torre remained in the thick of things with identical 3.5 points.

Antonio, ranked third here behind GM Wu Shaobin of Singapore and GM Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam, failed to join Dableo and Paragua at the helm when he was held to a 33-move draw by the 11th seed Irwanto in their Queen’s Gambit encounter.

Also handling the black pieces, Torre settled for a draw with local bet Quang Bao after 41 moves of another Sicilian.

But Bong Villamayor, the third Filipino GM in the field, got ambushed midway in the tournament as he dropped a 40-move decision to Indon Salor Sitanggang in their Slav game. With only 2.5 points, the bespectacled Villamayor needs to sweep the last four rounds to stay in contention for one of the two world championship berths.

Dableo, who stunned the top-seeded Wu in the fourth round, faces Liem in a keenly-awaited sixth round encounter Wednesday. Other pairings pit Antonio vs Pham and Torre against Paragua.

Meanwhile, Arianne Cerdena whipped Nguyen Thi Ngan Binh to notch her fourth point for a share of fifth place in the distaff side paced by Bathuyag Mongontuul with 5 points.