So, Laylo move within striking distance in Campomanes Cup

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmasters Wesley So and Darwin Laylo bounced back with resounding victories in the sixth round to move within a point of solo leader Chinese GM Zhao Jun in the first Florencio Campomanes Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium yesterday.

The second-seeded So pounced on compatriot IM Oliver Barbosa’s faulty handling of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted opening, fashioning out the 23-move win in a big rebound from his fifth round setback to top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.

“He (Barbosa) made an opening mistake and I pounced on it,” said So, whose four wins so far were all at the expense of Filipinos.

Laylo, who will join So and three others in the 39th World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia late this month, made a tactical exchange of a queen for two rooks and emerged victorious over fifth seed GM Chanda Sandipan of India in 48 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense.

So and Laylo thus moved up to joint second with seven others with 4.5 points, one point behind No. 11 Zhao, who continued his surge with a 44-move victory over No. 6 Li Chao in their Sicilian game.

So was playing Zhao in last night’s featured seventh round encounter in the nine-round event offering a total purse of $100,000. The winner will receive $10,000.

The tournament, sponsored by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is held in memory of the former long-time FIDE president who passed away early this year.

Le, who topped the Aeroflot Open, saw his three-game win run snapped with a draw as he split the point with No. 14 Chinese GM in 30 moves to join So, Laylo, No. 7 Kazakh Murtas Kazhgaleyev, No. 12 Iranian Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, No. 10 Georgian Merab Gagunashvili, No. 3 Chinese Zhou Jianchao, and No. 13 Singaporean Zhang Zhong in second.

Kazhgaleyev and Ghaem Maghami also fought to a 31-move draw in a Queen’s Gambit Declined; Gagunashvili agreed to halve the point with No. 4 Chinese Ni Hua in 49 moves of a Pirc duel; Zhou beat IM Richard Bitoon in 47 moves victory of another Sicilian; and Zhang repulsed John Paul Gomez in 45 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Defense.

It was, however, Laylo who produced the best game of the day after his brilliant sacrifice in pulling the rug from under the higher-ranked Sandipan.

With his queen trapped at kingside, Laylo was forced to give it up for two rooks and a passed pawn against the Indian’s queen and two pawns at the center.

But Sandipan missed the moves that would force a draw while Laylo found the winning line, promoting his kingside passed pawn ahead of the Indian’s connected passed pawns on the e and d files.

“It was a very complicated game, he (Sandipan) missed the correct moves that would force a draw,” said Laylo.

Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre stormed back to contention with a tense-filled 52-move win over FIDE Master Randy Segarra to hike his total to four points, joining six others, including GM Jayson Gonzales and former Olympic veteran Emmanuel Senador.

Gonzales downed former national juniors champion and Davao’s Edgar Reggie Olay in 55 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Game while Senador shocked No. 9 Georgian GM Tamaz Gelashvili in 42 moves of a Pirc Defense.

The four-point group includes Ni, Li, Mongolian GM Dashzeveg Sharavdorj and last week’s Pichay Cup champion No. 8 Uzbek GM Anton Filippov.