International Master Daniel Quizon drew strength from an opening queen sacrifice as he turned back Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna in 53 moves of a King’s Indian duel to remain unscathed and atop the heap after four rounds of the 2021 Philippine National Chess Championships yesterday.
Quizon, 17, gave up his queen for a rook a bishop and three pawns and then nursed the advantage until the end to carved out his fourth straight victory and kept his stranglehold of the solo lead at the Solea Hotel and Resort in Mactan, Cebu,
The win came on the heels of the World Cup veteran’s 49-move triumph over his mentor, GM Darwin Laylo, in 49 moves of a Ruy Lopez in the third round Friday night.
Grabbing some of the spotlight was grizzled vet IM Ricky de Guzman, who stunned top seed IM Paulo Bersamina in 72 moves of a Queen’s Gambit to zoom to solo second with 3.5 points, or just half a point off the pace.
It was a scintillating performance for both Quizon and de Guzman as the former went on a sacrificial attack and the latter showed superb technique in translating a slight a positional edge into wins.
It was especially huge for de Guzman, the oldest participant at 60 years old, as he had shown experience trumps youth.
IMs Michael Concio, Jr and Joel Pimentel were de Guzman’s other victims in this 11-round event backed PSC chair Butch Ramirez, NCFP chief Butch Pichay, POC head Bambol Tolentino, PCSO general manager Royina Garma, Chess Movement, Inc. chair Dr. Ariel Potot and Atty. Roel Canobas.
The loss sent Bersamina spiraling down to joint third with IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, who edged Allan Pason in 57 moves of Giuoco Piano, with 2.5 points apiece.
Other fourth round results saw GM Joey Antonio drawing with IM John Marvin Miciano in 39 moves of a Petroff Defense; IM Ronald Dableo splitting the point with Concio in 31 moves of a Pirc Defense; and Laylo and Pimentel agreeing to a truce in 30 moves of a Gruenfeld duel.
Quizon hopes to sustain his momentum and inch closer to the title as he was clashing with Antonio at press time.
Quizon is hoping to win here not just for a spot in the national team seeing action in next year’s Hanoi Southeast Asian Games and 2023 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Bangkok and Chonburi, Thailand and the top purse worth P80,000 but also to gain rating points as he resumes his quest for a GM title next year.