Antonio and So keeping pace

MANILA, Philippines – After hurdling their sixth-round matches, grandmasters Rogelio Antonio Jr. and Wesley So played cautiously and settled for a pair of draws against their respective foreign opponents – enough to keep pace with the frontrunners.

Antonio halved the point with GM Elshan Moradiabadi of Iran while So split the point with International Master Mohammad Al Sayed of Qatar to remain as the highest-placed Filipino players in the 2009 Asian Continental individual chess championship in Subic Tuesday.

Antonio, who swept his last two foreign rivals to move into contention, drew with Moradiabadi in only 30 moves in a rook and pawn endgame of a Sicilian to raise his total to 5 points on three wins and four draws, just half a point behind pacesetters Indian GMs Surya Shakhar Ganguly and Chanda Sandipan.

Antonio, who won 10 of 11 tournaments during a successful campaign in the United States last year, and Moradiabadi had two rooks and five pawns each when the game was agreed drawn.

“It’s a draw. Mahirap pilitin lalo na magaling din naman yung kalaban,” said the 28th-seeded Antonio.

So tried to extract a win against the black-playing, solidly-defending Al Sayed but eventually settled for a standoff in 36 moves of a Philidor and 4.5 points overall.

The 15-year-old Filipino champion forced an exchange of pieces beginning on the 12th move and launched a kingside attack with his queen and knight nine moves later. But Al Sayed wisely defused the tension by exchanging his bishop for the Filipino’s knight on the 23rd move.

But the day belonged to Ganguly, who outduelled GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam to gain a share of the lead with compatriot Sandipan.

Sandipan and GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam drew their match after 46 moves.

Aside from Antonio, also with five points are No. 9 seed GM Hou Yifan of China, who outclassed IM Homayoon Toufighi of Iran in 42 moves of the French, and Ding Liren of China, who whipped GM Enamul Hossain of Bangladesh in 43 moves of the Slav.

GM Yu Shaoteng and Yu Yangyi, both of China, also drew in 33 moves of the Caro Kann to remain in contention with 4.5 points, along with So.

Filipino GM Darwin Laylo outplayed IM Jayaram Ashwin of United Arab Emirates to keep his slim hopes alive with four points. – GMANews.TV

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar