By REY BANCOD
International Master Paulo Bersamina pulled off a stunning victory over third seed Grandmaster Le Quang Liem of Vietnam Monday at the start of the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships at the Tiara Hotel in Makati.
Handling the disadvantageous black pieces, the 20-year-old National University standout came out on top of a slambang encounter, finishing off the Vietnamese No. 1 in 36 moves of a Guico Piano.
It marked the first time Bersamina (ELO 2444) defeated a 2700 ELO-rated player.
“Siyempre, masaya tayo. Pero bago siya nagkamali sa 34th move, unclear pa ang position,” said Bersamina, a four-time Most Valuable Player in the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) who is hoping to complete his GM norm.
Le, who has an ELO of 2701, misread Bersamina’s kingside attack and went on to threaten the black queen with a rook move on the seventh rank.
The bespectacled Filipino ignored the threat with a brilliant pawn advance that completely caught the Vietnamese by surprise.
After Le gobbled up the queen, Bersamina proceeded to take the g-pawn that set up the forced mate.
It was the biggest upset recorded in the first round where all but two Filipinos lost.
IM Haridas Pascua was the only other Filipino to escape defeat when he held GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit to a draw.
GM John Paul Gomez, the country’s highest ranked player in the field, lost to No. 2 GM Wei Yi of China, GM Darwin Laylo bowed to No. 5 GM Adhiban B. of India while GM Joey Antonio went down to GM S.P. Sethuraman of India.
Top seed Wang Hao of China (ELO 2730) settled for a draw with FIDE Master Yoseph Theolifus Taher of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, top seeds WIM Zhu Jiner of China and IM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan hurdled their opening assignments in the women’s section.
WGM Janelle Mae Frayna, WFM Shania Mae Mendoza and WFM Cherry Ann Mejia drew their respective games.
The Open champion will collect $10,000 aside from towing four other top finishers into the World Cup set next year in Russia.
