Pascua outwits Indian foe, closes in on GM norm

MANILA, Philippines – International Master Hari Das Pascua flew to Vietnam to gain a Grandmaster norm. He will come home happy.

Pascua outplayed Indian IM P. Karthikeyan in 24 moves of a wild, slam bang King's Indian encounter to clinch the second of the Grandmaster norms in yesterday's conclusion of the 5th HD Bank Cup in Ho Chi Minh Sunday.

Playing black and needing nothing less than a win, Pascua, 21, went straight for the throat and caught Karthikeyan's uncastled king defenseless in the middle in carving out the tactics-filled win.

After nine rounds, Pascua finished with 6.5 points out of nine rounds, which was good for a four-way logjam at third spot with countryman GM John Paul Gomez, Chinese GM Li Chao and Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son.

Gomez shocked the top-seeded Li in 58 moves of a razor-sharp Benoni while Nguyen gave up a queen to escape in 72 moves of a Slav duel.

Vietnamese GM Le Quang Le waylaid Indian Woman GM Rout Padmini in 50 moves of a Sicilian to clinch the title with 7.5 points, half a point ahead of eventual second placer Zhang, a Chinese-born Singaporean, with seven points.

The day though belonged to Pascua, whose recent feat put him one step closer from becoming the country's 16th GM.

Ageless GM Eugene Torre escaped with a 35-move draw with Vietnamese GM Nguyen Duc Hoa in a Bogo-Indian to wind up sharing seventh with Nguyen and WIM Le Kieu Thien Kim of Vietnam with six points each.

GMs Darwin Laylo and Richard Bitoon and IMs Oliver Dimakiling, Paulo Bersamina and Kim Steven Yap ended up with 5.5 points to finish in a big 12-man tie at No. 10.