Pascua slips to joint 3rd

MANILA, Philippines - FIDE Master Haridas Pascua held his own against fourth seed S.P. Sethuraman of India and forced a draw with the black in the third round of the Asian Junior Chess Championships at the Vijay Park and Business Hotel in Chennai, India Thursday.

Although the standoff dropped Pascua from a share of the lead to joint third, it was still an inspiring result for the 17-year-old Pangasinan native, who proved his mettle against a higher rated rival in the 74-player tournament.

Pascua raised his total to 2.5 points.

Top seed IM B. Adhiban also drew his match with No. 13 seed Nikil Shyam while second seed IM Gujrathi Vidit halved the point with No. 15 S. Nitin in a pair of all-Indian encounters to join Pascua and nine others in third.

Leading the field with three points are No.11 seed IM Srinath Narayanan and No. 16 IM K. Priyadharsan, who beat FM Berik Akkozov of Kazakhstan and defending champion Jayaram Ashwin of India, respectively.

Pascua takes on Vidit in the fourth round.

In the girls division, Christy Lamiel Bernales settled for a draw with No. 33 seed G. Lasya of India and hardly moved up with 1.5 points in three rounds.

The UE bet lost her opening match to No. 41 WFM Hisham Nur Najha of Malaysia last Tuesday but bounced back with a victory over No. 43 R. Abirami of India.

The 15th-seeded Bernales will meet No. 37 Dinushki Premanath of Sri Lanka in the fourth round.