Pinoy bet Paragua strikes back in Asian Continental chess bash

Grandmaster Mark Paragua bounced back from an opening-day setback to whip GM Orazly Annageldyev of Turkmenistan even as GM Wesley So was held to another draw by GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam in the 10th Asian Continental Individual chess championships at the Hotel Pardisan in Massahd, Iran on Tuesday. Paragua, ever so eager to reclaim his old billing in local chess hierarchy, outwitted the lower-rated Annageldyev in 53 moves of the Hedgehog opening to remain in contention in this prestigious, nine-round competition being held to determine the region’s four representatives to the 2011 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Paragua, the 27-year-old veteran of the 2004 World Championship in Tripoli, Libya, dropped his opening-day assignment to Fide Master Jwan Bakr of Syria last Monday. The four other Filipino campaigners in this 50-player tournament had another modest results. So, seeded third behind GMs Rustan Kasimdhanov of Uzbekistan and Krishnan Sasikiran of India with an ELO of 2667, split the point with No. 26 seed Dao after only 24 moves of the English opening. Last Monday, So also settled for a draw with No. 28 seed GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan in the first round. International Master Oliver Barbosa also split the point with No. 8 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, while GM John Paul Gomez also halved the point with No. 41 IM Kaiqi Yang of China. GM Darwin Laylo, the hero in the Filipinos’ first-round campaign, bowed to sixth seed GM Yu Yangyi of China. Laylo, who scored the Filipinos’ lone victory against Austin Yang of Chinese-Taipei, in the first round, resigned his match with Yu after 51 moves of the Caro-Kann. Overall, four Filipinos – Paragua, So Barbosa and Laylo -- have one point apiece, a full point behind early leaders GMs Bu Xiangzhi of China, Yu Yangyi of China, Parimarjan Negi of India and Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan. In the third round, Paragua will take on No. 42 FM Hussein Ali Hussein of Iraq. So will try to gain his first victory when he meets IM Javad Alavi Sayed of Iran, Barbosa will battle GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran and Laylo will face Paragua’s first-round tormentor, Bakr. Gomez, who only has half point to show in two rounds, will tacke IM Rui Gao of China.. Setting the pace with two wins in as many matches are Bu, who outplayed GM Elshan Moradiabadi of Iran; Negi, who crushed GM Abhijit Kunte of India; Jumabayev, who humbled Bakr; and Yu, who toppled Laylo. Twelve players, led by Sasikiran and GM Pentala Harikirshan of India, shared sixth to 16 th places with 1.5 points. Sasikiran, seeded seocnd with an ELO of 2676, dumped FM Shahim Sadeh of Iran, while Harikirshna drew with GM Wen Yang of China. China and India have the most number of entries with 12 players each, while host Iran has 10. The Philippines has five players, followed by Vetnam with three, Kazakhstan with two and Chinese-Taipei, Indonesia, Iraq, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan with one each. Of the 50 participants, 28 are GMs and 10 IMs. - RCJ, GMA News