Laylo shares lead in Butch Pichay Cup

CEBU, Philippines - World Cup-bound GM Darwin Laylo outdueled compatriot IM Richard Bitoon in the third round and then drew with top seed GM Mikhail Mchedlishvili of Georgia in the fourth to gain a share of the lead in the Prospero Pichay Cup International Chess Championship at the LWUA Bldg. in Katipunan Ave., Quezon City over the weekend.

The victory and the draw hiked Laylo’s output to 3.5 points as he joined Mchedlishvili and Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami in the lead with five rounds left in the nine-round tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in cooperation with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

Mchedlishvili trounced GM Li Shilong of China in the third round while Ghaemmaghami beat No. 25 Tirto of Indonesia in the third round and No. 15 GM John Paul Gomez in the fourth.

Twelve players, led by newly crowned President Arroyo Cup champion GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan, Filipino bets GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., Eugene Torre and Bitoon, shared fourth place with three points each.

Filippov, hoping to become the first player to sweep the two tournaments, halved the point with GM Mark Paragua in the third round and Antonio in the fourth round.

Antonio, who will join Laylo and GM Wesley So as the country’s representatives to the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia next month, trampled IM Rolando Nolte in the third round before halving the point with Filippov.

Torre, out to atone for his lackluster showing in the PGMA Cup last week, dumped Ali Branzuela and GM-elect Ronald Dableo, while Bitoon, who is seeking his third and last GM norm, bounced back from his third-round setback to Laylo as he subdued Denil Causo.

Also moving up in contention with three points are GMs Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam, Tigran Kotanjian of Armenia, Abhijeet Gupta of India, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, Das Neelotpal of India, Zhang Zhong of Singapore, Merab Gagunashvili and Pyotr Kostenko of Kazakhstan.

Kotanjian drew with Nguyen, Gupta halved the point with Dao, Zhang nipped Paragua, Gagunashvili outclassed FM Fernie Donguines, Das downed IM Chito Garma and Kostenko humbled FM Leonardo Carlos.

Rolando Andador toppled GM Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor, GM Jayson Gonzales drew with Alcon John Datu, and Alex Milagrosa split the point with Nolte to lead five other players with 2.5 points.