Dableo stuns top seed, shares lead

Unfazed by the credentials of his compatriots, Ronald Dableo pulled off a scintillating win over top seed Wu Shaobin Monday for the Philippines’ most resounding victory thus far in the Asian Zonals at the First Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Not only did the 24-year-old Dableo drop the fancied Singaporean to seventh place but also gained a share of the lead with Mark Paragua after four rounds of this 9-round event for Zone 3.2a organized by the Vietnam Chess Federation.

Dableo, ranked 18th in a field of 30, marshaled his white pieces with pinpoint accuracy and went on to baffle Wu with brilliant moves in the middlegame to pound out a 38-move victory in their King’s Indian Attack game.

With a 3.5-point output, Dableo found himself a bewildered co-leader as Paragua, who underscored his readiness for this event by racking up three straight victories, agreed to a 15-move draw with GM Joey Antonio in a duel of the leaders.

Antonio, the third seed here, leads the three-pointers, including Pham Minh Hoang and Irwanto Sadikin, who hurdled their respective rivals even as GM Eugene Torre got stalled anew by a second straight draw, this time by Sitanggang Salor in their Queen’s Gambit Accepted encounter.

Torre, who halved the point with Sadikin Irwanto in the third round, is in the big 2.5- pointer group, which includes Wu, second seed Nguyen Anh Dung and Bong Villamayor, the third GM in the five-man RP delegation seeing action here.

The victory put Dableo in good stead as he tries to wrest the solo leadership against Paragua on the top board match in round 5 being played at presstime. Antonio, on the other hand, is up against Irwanto, an Indon FIDE Master ranked eight rungs lower than him.

Arianne Caoili bowed to local bet Le Bui Kim in the fourth of women’s play paced by second seed Bathuyag Mongontuul of Mongolia with four points. The setback sent the fourth-ranked Caoili tumbling down to 10th place with two points. — Dante Navarro