PH chessers stun top seeds in Asian Chess Championship

MANILA, Philippines – International Masters Paulo Bersamina and Haridas Pascua saved the day for host Philippines as they pulled off shock results at the start of the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships (2nd Manny Pacquiao Cup) at the Tiara Hotel in Makati City Monday night, December 10.

Bersamina, 20, pulled off the biggest upset of the day as he brought down third seed Grandmaster Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in 36 moves of a Guioco Piano while Pascua, 25, held fourth pick GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit of Indian to a 36-move draw of a Gruenfeld Defense to lead the country’s charge.

The win sent Bersamina in a 28-player tie on top that included second round opponent GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, who downed veteran IM Chito Garma.

For Pascua, he was tackling Indonesian IM Novenfta Priasmoro at press time in this tournament sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Butch Pichay. 

Bersamina and Pascua also prevented a shutout for the host country that fielded a total of 18 woodpushers in the men’s section.

GMs John Paul Gomez, Darwin Laylo and Joey Antonio all lost to No. 2 GM Wei Yi of China, No. 5 B. Adhiban of India and No. 8 GM S. P. Sethuraman of India, respectively.

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna, WFM Shania Mae Mendoza, WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego and WFM Cherry Ann Mejia all ended up with a split.

Frayna, the country’s best hope, managed just a standoff with Sivanesan Nithyalakshmi of Malaysia while Mendoza stunned No. 3 IM Guo Qi of China with a fighting draw.

San Diego halved the point with No. 7 WGM Vo Thi Kim of Vietnam while Mejia split the point with No. 13 WGM Nguyen Thi Thanh.

The top 5 in the men’s advance to the World Cup while the champion in the women qualifies in the Women’s World Championship tournament. – Rappler.com