Torre hikes lead to full point

GM Eugene Torre continued to dish out big games against fancied foreign rivals, beating top seed GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to pad his lead to a full point over three others in the President Arroyo Cup international chess championship at the Duty Free Fiesta Mall in Parañaque City.

Torre, 56, showed his deep understanding of the Nimzo Indian game then flashed another endgame brilliance to outwit the top Kazakh GM after 73 moves of the grueling encounter.

“I’m very happy to win this one. It was really a long and tiring struggle against Murtas,” said Torre, out to snap a long title drought in a tournament of this magnitude.

It was Torre’s fifth straight win in the tournament, organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), giving him a one-point lead over second seed GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore, defending champion Li Chao of China and fourth seed GM Ehsam Ghaemmaghami of Iran heading into the last four rounds of this tournament offering a total pot of $40,000.

Torre, handling the black pieces, held his ground against Kazhgaleyev, shunning his rival’s bishop sacrifice in the middlegame skirmish. The Filipino GM then gained the key squares in a brilliant endgame that kept the pressure on Kazhgaleyev to the delight of the big home crowd which braved heavy rains spawned by tropical storm “Marce.”

Torre has two knights and two well-connected pawns up for promotion against Kazgaleyev’s lone rook when the end came for the Kazakh GM.

Zhang, Torre’s sixth-round rival, primed himself up for the much-awaited showdown with a resounding victory over GM Li Shilong of China.

Li, who bagged the title after finishing with the highest tiebreak score in a three-way tie for first place last year, crushed GM Darwin Laylo, while Ghaemmaghami dumped IM Weimign Goh of Singapore to force a three-way tie for second with four points in the tournament supported by Duty Free Phils., Department of Tourism, Pilipinas Shell, Globe and Pagcor.

“It’s still a long way to go but obviously my chances are a lot better now,” said Torre.

Three-time national junior champion and GM-candidate John Paul Gomez halved the point with GM Weiqi Zhou of China to lead a big group of players with 3.5 points.

Gomez, 22, needs at least 2.5 points in the last four rounds to obtain a GM result.

GM Mark Paragua and IM Julio Catalino Sadorra also settled for a draw to join Gomez and nine other foreign players.

But while Torre sustained his form, GM Wesley So continued to struggle as he was held to a draw by a lower-rated Yunguo Wan of China and was stalled at three points.

GMs Jayson Gonzales and Bong Villamayor dropped their matches and slid in the lower half of the 72-player field. Gonzales lost to No. 45 seed Kaiqi Yang of China while Villamayor bowed to No. 9 seed GM Marat Dzumaev of Uzbekistan.