CHENNAI, India – Haridas Pascua of the Philippines blew his chance to gain the lead in the 2010 Asian Junior boys and girls championships when he lost to second seed Gujrathi Vidit of India in the fourth round at the Vijay Park and Business Hotel here Friday.
Pascua tried his best to unsettle his higher-rated Indian rival with the white pieces, but failed to come up with the right combinations.
He absorbed his first setback after two wins and one draw in the nine-round tournament organized by the All-India Chess Federation in cooperation with the Tamilnado State Chess Association and Sports Promotion Foundation.
The 17-year-old Filipino campaigner from Mangatarem, Pangasinan dropped into a share of 16th to 30th places in the 74-player field with only 2.5 points out of a possible four.
The University of Baguio student trails IM Srinath Naraynan of India by 1.5 points at the halfway mark of the competition.
Pascua will try to recover lost ground when he meets another Indian player, No. 28 seed Kelkar Albishek.
Narayanan, seeded only 11th, whipped compatriot K. Priyadharsyan to grab the solo lead with a perfect score of four points.
Four players, led by Vidit, share second to fifth places with 3.5 points, while a big group of campaigners, including defending champion Jarayam Ashwin of India, follow in sixth to 15th places with three points.
Top seed IM B. Adhiban of India was also not as fortunate, losing in upset to fellow Indian and No. 14 seed Sunday Shyam.
In the girls division, Christy Lamiel Bernales halved the point with No. 37 Dinushki Premanath of Sri Lanka to improve her score to two points on one win, two draws and one loss.
Bernales, a mainstay of the Philippine team which saw action in the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany two years ago, lost her opening match to No. 41 WFM Hisham Nur Najha of Malaysia last Tuesday but bounced back into contention by beating No. 43 R. Abirami of India the following round.
The University of the East student then drew with No. 33 seed G. Lasya of India in the third round.
In the fifth round, the 15th-seeded Bernales will go up against No. 27 Homa Alavi of Iran, who beat J.G. Nivedhitha of India.
National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) executive/events director and delegation head Willie Abalos said Pascua and Bernales are expected to play better against their fifth-round rivals.
Seventy-four players from eight countries, including 65 from India, are seeing action in the boys division, while 53 participants, 41 of them from the host country, are competing in the girls category.
At stake are gold, silver and bronze medals to the top three participants.
Last year, Jayaram bagged the boys title in the tournament held in Sri Lanka.
The Indian champion finished with a nine-round total of eight points, a full point ahead of IM Amanov Zhanibek of Kazakhstan and 1.5 points clear of compatriot Lalith Babu.
WIM Rout Padmini completed a sweep for India when she ruled the girls division over WFM Mitra Hejazipour of Iran.