Grandmaster John Paul Gomez and International Master Ricky de Guzman turned back GM Joey Antonio and FIDE Master Yoseph Theolifus Taher of Indonesia, respectively, to surge into the Top 20 after seven rounds of the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships (2nd Manny Pacquiao Cup) Sunday night.
The pair of wins catapulted Gomez and de Guzman into a nine-player logjam at 18th place with four points apiece, or just 1.5 points behind leaders GM Surya Ganguli of India and GM M. Amin Tabatabei of Iran.
De Guzman was clashing with IM Xu Yi of China, while Gomez versus GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran in the eighth and penultimate round at press time.
The win by the 58-year-old de Guzman came a day after he drew with former women’s world champion GM Tan Zhongyi of China in this nine-round tournament sanctioned by National Chess Federation of the Philippines president Butch Pichay and bankrolled by the Phl Sports Commission and Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
Gomez, for his part, has been on a tear as he had racked up four points in the last five rounds after starting the tournament with a loss to second seed GM We Yi of China and defaulting his second round match with Filipino IM Daniel Quizon.
In the women’s division, WGM Janelle Mae Frayna downed Woman FIDE Master Allaney Jia Doroy to boost her chances of finishing in the Top 10.
Frayna, 22, has now zoomed to a five-player tie at 12th place with four points and could barge into the top 10 if she could hurdle WFM Dita Karenza, who trounced WFM Aashna Makhija of India, in the eighth round.
It was the second straight win for Frayna, the country’s first WGM eyeing to become the first Filipina to gain a men’s GM title, after she bested WFM Aay Aisyah Anisa of Indonesia the round before.
Indian IM Ruot Padmini split the point with Chinese IM Guo Qi to keep her stranglehold of the solo lead with six points.
Padmini was a full point ahead of closest pursuers Vietnam’s IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen, Singapore’s WGM Gong Qianyun and China’s WGM Wang Jue with five points each.