Paragua takes solo lead as Sadorra errs

MANILA, Philippines - Mark Paragua kept his mastery over fellow Grandmaster Julio Catalino Sadorra as he essayed an emphatic 31-move victory to wrest the solo lead in the fifth round of the $100,000 Asian Continental Chess Championships dubbed the “Manny Pacquiao Cup” at the Midas Hotel and Casino in Pasay City Wednesday night.

Paragua, 29, pounced on Sadorra’s costly blunder on the 31st move – a dubious knight move on c8 that resulted in an outright mate by the former’s well-placed bishops.

“I had the positional advantage from the start but he defended well that’s why I was starting to think that our game will end up in a draw,” said Paragua, the country’s former No. 1 before the young GM Wesley So took over, in Filipino.

“But he bit into my trap with that errant knight move on the c8 square instead of putting it on the c6 square that would have led to a drawish position,” added Paragua, who surged ahead of the field with 4.5 points.

It was a sorry loss for Sadorra, who got stalled at four points following a sweep of his first four matches in the tournament bankrolled by Manny Pacquiao, organized by the Eugene Torre Foundation and supported by Cafe Puro, Alaxan and Oriental and Motolite Battery.

“I was trying to save some time when I made that move. I only realized the mistake when I already completed the move,” said Sadorra.

Paragua hopes to remain on top as he faces off with top seed Vietnames GM Le Quang Liem, who drew with Indian GM M.R. Lalith Babu for a tie with Sadorra and three others.

The other four pointers are GM Richard Bitoon, who humbled many-time Olympiad veteran GM Joey Antonio, second pick Chinese GM Li Chao, who downed Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai, and GM John Paul Gomez, who stunned No. 10 Chinese GM Li Shilong.

Rounding up the top 10 with 3.5 points apiece are Lalith Babu, No. 3 GM Krishnan Sasikiran, GM Gujrathi Vidit Santosh, GM Subramanian Arun Prasad, Baskaran Adhiban and G.N. Gopal of India, Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, GM Mohammad Al-Sayed of Qatar, GM Marat Dzhumaev of Uzbekistan, GM Tsegmed Batchuluun of Mongolia and GM Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh.