Laylo overpowers Liu in Vietnam tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Darwin Laylo overpowered FIDE Master Liu Xiangyi in 39 moves of a Gruenfeld duel to remain in title-contention after the seventh round of the Asian Zonal 3.3 Championship in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam Friday.

Employing a rare line, Laylo, 35, outplayed Liu in the opening to emerge with a pair of dangerous connected queenside passed pawns that he used as a battering ram to hammer out the win.

The proud son of Marikina City thus moved into a three-way logjam at No. 3 with International Master Wynn Zaw Htun and Chinese-born Singaporean GM Zhang Zhong with five points apiece.

Leading the way with six points was Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem, who downed Filipino GM John Paul Gomez in 43 moves of a Queen's Gambit Declined, while at solo second was another Vietrnam bet, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, who drew with Wynn in 37 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Defense.

In the top 10 and still in the hunt were five chessers with 4.5 points headed by Filipino GMs Eugene Torre, Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon.

The vintage Torre toyed with countryman IM Haridas Pascua in 37 moves of a Trompovsky Opening; Barbosa split the point with FM Le Tuan Minh in 22 moves of a Slav; and Bitoon slew Mongolia GM Bayarsaikhan Gundava in 46 moves of a Catalan.

The nine-round, Swiss System tournament is staking two berths to the World Cup slated Sept. 10 to Oct. 4 this year in Baku, Azerbaijan.