Emperado claims 2nd GM, shares lead lead

MANILA, Philippines - Unheralded Emmanuel Emperado humbled another grandmaster in as many days, toppling Indian G.N. Gopal to gain a share of the lead with Filipino GMs John Paul Gomez and Julio Catalino Sadorra in the second round of the $100,000 Asian Continental Chess Championship dubbed “Manny Pacquiao Cup” at the Midas Hotel and Casino Sunday night.

A day after stunning No. 17 Mongolian GM Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa, Emperado, son of former many-time Olympiad veteran Mila, surprised the 18th-ranked Gopal, pulling off a 35-move win in their razor-sharp Sicilian encounter.

Emperado, who honed his skills under the Milo Checkmate program, thus joined six others in the early lead at two points apiece although he drew a tougher third round assignment in No. 2 Chinese super GM Li Chao, who had 1.5 points following a draw by compatriot International Master Wan Yunguo.

Gomez showed his deep understanding of the French Defense as he whipped Indonesian Theolifus Taher Yoseph in 46 moves while the US-based Sadorra, a Business Administration student at University of Texas-Dallas, clipped IM Husein Aziz Nezad’s Slav Defense in just 26 moves.

The other two pointers are top seed Le Quang Liem and No. 5 Nguyen Ngong Truong Son, both of Vietnam, Qatari GM Mohammed Al-Sayed and Chinese IM Wang Chen.

Le, the highest rated player in this event sponsored by Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao with a rating of 2714, beat Mongolian GM Tsegmed Batchuluun in marathon 66 moves; Nguyen hammered fellow Vietnamese IM Nguyen Van Huy; Al Sayed destroyed Indian GM Parimarjan Negi’s Slav with a 26-move triumph; and Wang trounced Indian GM Lalith Babu in 36 moves of Modern Defense.

According to Torre, whose Eugene Torre Foundation is the organizer of the event backed by Cafe Puro, Alaxan, Oriental and Motolite Corp., the top five finishers will gain automatic slots in the World Cup.

GM Darwin Laylo defeated IM Joel Pimentel to join Li at eighth place along with IM Chito Garma, who pulled the rug from under GM Oliver Barbosa, the highest ranked Filipino here at No. 8, GM Mark Paragua and FIDE Master Haridas Pascua, who fought to a marathon 80-move draw in their Gruenfeld duel.

FM Mari Joseph Turqueza, who shocked Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai, went for the win but ended up splitting the point with Indian GM Subramanian Arun Prasad in 33 moves of a Reti Opening.

Other 1.5 pointers were Chinese GMs Li Shilong, Li Chao and IM Wan Yunguo, Indian GM Baskaran Adhiban, Uzbek GM Marat Dzumaev, Bangladeshi GM Niaz Murshed, Kazakh IM Kiril Kuderinov, Vietnamese IM Nguyen Doc Hoa and Singaporean IM Goh Weiming.

IM Barlo Nadera also followed up his stunning draw with No. 3 Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran with another standoff, this time against No. 7 Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami.