by Kristel Satumbaga
Grandmaster Darwin Laylo blasted Chinese GM Zeng Chongsheng to barge into the Top 10 after seven rounds in the Asian Continental Chess Championships on Thursday in Xingtai, China.
Laylo, 38, needed 55 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense in beating Zeng and hiking his win-loss tally to 4.5 points on four wins, one draw and one loss.
The victory earned Laylo a share of ninth spot with nine others – one point behind Indian GMs Murali Karthikeyan, S.P. Sethuraman and Abhijeet Gupta.
He will be up against another Chinese GM in Lu Shanglei, who also tallies 4.5 points after drawing with Indian GM Babu MR Lalith.
International Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia also shared the day’s limelight with a big win over GM Prasanna Vishnu of India for 4 points at 20th to 33rd places, while GM John Paul Gomez split the point with GM Xu Yinglun of China for 3.5 points for 34th to 41st.
