MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines split its opening round assignment in the 2010 Asian Junior boys and girls’ chess championships with Haridas Pascua beating his Vietnamese rival and Christy Lamiel Bernales losing to a Malaysian foe at the Vijay Park and Business Hotel in Arrumbakkan, Chennai, India Tuesday.
The 17-year-old Pascua, a former Palarong Pambansa champion, disposed of No. 54 J. Yohan with the black pieces to join the march of the fancied bets in the 74-player tournament.
Pascua, a silver medalist in the 2007 World Under-16 Olympiad in Singapore, will face No. 55 Vahid Faramarzi of Iran in the second round Wednesday.
Faramarzi won by forfeiture over Suri Vaibhav of India.
“The Asian Junior Championship is a good opportunity for Haridas to show his wares against the best 20-and-under players in the region,” said NCFP president/chairman Butch Pichay, who personally picked Pascua to represent the country.
Bernales, however, fell to No. 41 WFM Hisham Nur Najha with the Olympiad veteran hoping to bounce back against No. 43 R. Abirami of India in the second round.
The top five seeds in the boys division, led by top seed IM B. Adhiban of India and second seed IM Gujrathi Vidit, also breezed through with victories in nine-round competition.
Adhiban trounced fellow Indian S. Kaushik while Vidit crushed Sameer Kathmale in the first two boards.
In girls play, defending champion WIM Rout Padmini of India demolished Hma Alavi to set up a second round clash with No. 18 Priya Mohana.