Laylo draws with super GM

Filipino Grandmaster Darwin Laylo had a major upset in the works before settling for a marathon 60-move draw in a Slav duel with fancied French GM Etienne Bacrot Friday night in the first round of the prestigious World Chess in super cold Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Arriving just a few hours before his game because of hassles back home and surviving the freezing temperature in this Russian town, Laylo, whose rating of 2508 pales in comparison to his foe’s 2695, still managed to obtain a winning position after Bacrot, seeded 16th here, blundered on the 11th move when the latter tried to confuse the former with a pseudo knight sacrifice that led to a fierce tactical exchange.

But the Lipa City native and Marikina-based Laylo, who booked his place in this annual event by finishing in the top 10 in the Asian Qualifier in Mandaue City, Cebu last month, got excited and failed to capitalize on it and agreed to halve the point on the 60th move.

“I was winning in the opening but I missed the move that would have won it outright,” Laylo told The STAR in an e-mail message in Filipino.”I got a little excited because I didn’t expect him to blunder like that.”

After playing the white pieces, Laylo now switches boards with Bacrot and hopes to come up with a draw, if not a miracle of a win that would force a pair of tiebreak games where the Filipino has a better chance of pulling off an upset because of lesser time control.

“Let’s hope for a miracle and pray he (Laylo) wins with the black pieces,” said Silva, who is constantly in touch with Laylo to give him some advice.

“A draw would suffice though since he has a better chance of beating Bacrot in the tiebreak because Darwin is used to playing rapid games,” he added.