Team Philippines shocks top seeds in Asian Chess Championships in UAE

THE Philippines’ Jem Garcia and Pau Bersamina took the right path towards a FIDE World Cup ticket and a Grandmaster norm after pulling off giant-sized results at the start of the Asian Individual Chess Championships in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday night.

Mr. Garcia pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the opening round after slaying 13^th seed GM V Pranav of India in 40 moves of a King’s Indian duel while Mr. Bersamina eked out an equally stunning 80-move draw with top seed GM Nihai Sarin of India of a Sicilian duel.

Mr. Garcia outmaneuvered Mr. Pranav in the opening phase that allowed him to win the exchange and the match while Mr. Bersamina leaned on an outside-passed pawn that helped him extract the draw by repetition despite being a piece down.

Also coming through was another Filipino, GM Daniel Quizon, a 38-move winner over China’s Xu Pengmo in yet another King’s Indian encounter.

Messrs. Garcia, Bersamina and Quizon were clashing with Chinese International Master Chen Qi B, Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakkubboev and Russian GM David Paravyan with all three seeking one of the 10 FIDE World Cup slots that are up for grabs in this nine-round meet.

It will be more important for Messrs. Garcia and Bersamina to excel as they are shooting GM norms.

In the women’s side, the country’s Woman Grand Master (WGM) Janelle Mae Frayna opened her World Cup return bid with a bang following a 38-move triumph over fellow WGM Manisha Mohanty Kiran of India in their Sicilian battle.

Ms. Frayna was eyeing another win versus Mongolian WGM Uurtsaikh Uuriintuya with hopes of claiming one of the two World Cup seats staked in their division.

It was a clinical win for Ms. Frayna as she managed to send her game into a winning endgame where she had a better pawn formation even though both have the same number of pawns. — Joey Villar