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By Frank Calapre Correspondent
MANDAUE CITY: International
Master Darwin Laylo and local bet Kim Steven Yap won their
respective matches Tuesday night to gain a share of eighth place
after seven rounds in the ongoing Asian Individual Chess
Championship at the Cebu International Convention Center here.
Laylo, a member of the RP
Olympiad team, survived a marathon four-hour match to upset
Grandmaster Dao Thien Hao of Vietnam in 61 moves of the Slav
opening.
“I have to win so I can catch
up with those in the top 10,” said the 25-year-old Laylo. He
masterfully maneuvered a pawn in the 7th file until in the 7th line,
which Thien Hai failed to defend and with a threatened queen, the
Vietnamese gold medalist in the 2005 Manila SEA Games resigned.
Yap, who only needs 1.5 points to
obtain a national master norm, also won his match against compatriot
IM Wesley So in 41 moves of the Sveshnikov.
Laylo and Yap now have identical
4.5 points, half a point behind second placers Megaranto Susanto of
Indonesia, Wang Hao of China, Neelotpal Das of India and Zhou
Jianchao and Hussain Enamul of Bangladesh.
“If he makes a good performance
the rest of the way, he can even be awarded an IM title. But
that’s not important for him, what he needs to do now is to forget
any title but focus in playing the game,” said IM Rodolfo Tan
Cardoso.
Yap, the National PRISAA champion
in 2007 and 2006, got the advantage when he forced So to commit an
error in the 37th and capitalized on it by advancing a rook to the
8th line to force a threatening mate in the 41st move.
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