MANILA, Philippines - FIDE Master Randy Segarra and International Master Roy Saptarshi of India created a stir as the two forced a draw against their fancied foes last night at the start of the first Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The 32-year-old Segarra, a former La Salle standout who now coaches the Taft-based school, pounced on No. 13 Singaporean GM Zhang Zhong’s endgame inaccuracies to eke out a 41-move draw in their super-sharp Kings Indian showdown.
Saptarshi, for his part, battled top seed Le Quang Liem of Vietnam to a 30-move standoff in their Slav encounter to post the other minor upset in the tournament held in honor of the late former FIDE president known as the Grand Old Man of chess.
“He (Zhang) was a pawn up and three connected central passed pawns but he got lost somewhere maybe because of time problems,” said Segarra in Filipino.
Third pick GM Zhou Jianchiao of China walloped RP’s Julius de Ramos in 29 moves of a Queen’s Pawn game while No. 10 Merab Gagunashvili zapped FIDE Master Timothy Chan of Singapore in 22 moves of a Pirc encounter to set in motion their respective title bids. - J. Villar
Other early winners were IM Yu Lie of China over RP’s Ritchie Evangelista, in 30 moves of yet another Pirc duel, GM Jayson Gonzales at the expense of Alex Milagrosa in 38 moves of a seldom-used Nimzovitch Defense and IM Rolando Nolte against Merben Roque in 46 moves of a French Defense.