International Master Daniel Quizon continued his march towards claiming a World Chess Olympiad spot after scoring 1.5 points in the fourth and fifth round Friday and seizing the solo lead in the Philippine National Chess Championships at the Marikina Community Convention Center.
Quizon, 19, actually took the lead after a shock 33-move victory over Grandmaster Darwin Laylo in the fourth round early in the day and then drew with FIDE Master Mark Jay Bacojo hours later that kept the former national champion well perched at the helm with 4.5 points.
The results also kept the World Cup veteran closer to snaring of the three spots to the Olympiad set Sept. 10 to 23 next year in Budapest, Hungary and the top purse worth P120,000 in this tournament presented by Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro and Congresswoman Maan Teodoro.
At solo second with four points was IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, who drew his last two games including a fifth-round split with Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna.
In a four-player logjam at No. 3 with three points apiece were Bacojo, Frayna, 14-year old wunderkind Christian Gian Karlo Arca and battle-tested GM John Paul Gomez.
The 13-round tournament, backed by NCFP chairman president Prospero Pichay, Jr., POC president Abraham Tolentino, PSC chair Richard Bachmann, the Eugene Torre Chess Foundation, Pan de Amerikana’s Jundio Salvador, will take a New Year’s break and will resume Jan. 3.