International Masters Daniel Quizon and Jan Emmanuel Garcia hurdled their respective foes on Thursday to remain unscathed and atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the Philippine National Chess Championship at the Marikina Community Convention Center.
Quizon, a Grandmaster candidate from Dasmarinas, slew GM Joey Antonio while Garcia, an Olympiad veteran, smashed Vince Angelo Medina to claim their second win in a row that kept them firmly perched on top in this 14-player, 13-round event presented by Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro and Congressman Maan Teodoro.
Both Quizon and Garcia were battling Samson Chiu Chin Lim and Jerish John Velarde, respectively, in the third round at press time and eyeing a third straight win that would keep them at their lofty perch.
Stealing some of the thunder from the big guns was 14-year-old wunderkind Christian Gian Karlo Arca, who downed battle-scarred IM Barlo Nadera to seize a share of third spot with four others with 1.5 points apiece.
It included Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna, who shocked GM Darwin Laylo in Wednesday’s opening round.
Arca, who just came from a sensational title conquest of the blitz event of the World Youth Championship in Italy last month, has been touted as the next big thing in Philippine chess and should be tested against Frayna herself as the two were tackling in the third round.
Also in that chase pack were Mark Jay Bacojo, who split the point with Frayna, Velarde, who trounced WIM Antoinette Marie San Diego, and GM John Paul Gomez, who bested Lim.
For Laylo, he bounced back from a stinging first-round defeat with a clinical dismantling of IM Paulo Bersamina to jump back into contention in this event, which stakes three slots to next year’s World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary.
This meet also stakes P120,000 to the champion courtesy of Marikina City, NCFP chairman president Prospero Pichay, Jr., POC president Abraham Tolentino, PSC chair Richard Bachmann, the Eugene Torre Chess Foundation, Pande and Amerikana’s Jundio Salvador.