Philippine National Bank's Arlan Cabe cleverly forced an early exchange of the minor pieces to hold GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. to a draw that looked more like a victory for a gallery of PNB employees, while NM Idelfonso Datu upended IM Rico Mascarinas at the start of the third round of the Chess Pambansa Millennium Grand Prix at the PNB Financial Center in Pasay yesterday.
Cabe, a 26-year-old corporate affairs employee of the PNB who is ranked 98th here, showed his deep understanding of the Alapin variation of the Sicilian defense to force a 47-move draw with Antonio, now the highest-ranked player following the ouster of GM Eugene Torre in the first round.
It was indeed a big draw for Cabe, who came into the game barely recovering from gruelling playoff victory over NM Rolando Nolte Thursday.
The 48th-ranked Datu, on the other hand, pulled off a king-sized upset of the comebacking Mascarinas, the 16th seed veteran of many Olympiad whom he trounced in 39 moves of a King's Indian Defense. Datu needs only a draw today to advance into the round of 16.
Also coming through with a stunning draw was Marikina's Darwin Laylo, the 19-year-old reigning national junior champion who held IM Luis Chiong IV to a 48-move standoff of a Gruenfeld Defense via perpetual check.
While reversals continued to mar the P2.3 million event, some of the big guns held sway in the face of an all-out charge by the unfancied bets with NM Richard Bitoon, IM Barlo Nadera and IM Ricky De Guzman scoring victories with relative ease over their respective opponents.
Bitoon, the Cebu City bet, downed NM Roland Perez in 34 moves of a Sicilian; Nadera, from Malabon, trounced NM Francis Jocson in 24 moves of King's Indian; while De Guzman beat Misamis Oriental's Roger Verganio in 40 moves of a Dutch Defense.
Also moving within a draw from making it to the next round was NM Mirabeau Maga, who waylaid Jermel Abordo in 42 moves of a Trompovsky Attack.
Third seed IM Bong Villamayor of Quezon and NM Chito Garma also drew their respective matches.