by Kristel Satumbaga
International Master Daniel Quizon whipped second seed Mahdi Gholami Orimi of Iran and seized a share of the lead with top seed IM Nguyen Anh Koi of Vietnam after three rounds of the Asian Juniors Championships in Solo, Indonesia Wednesday night.
Quizon, 15, outplayed Orimi in the opening and gained a pawn advantage en route to checkmating the Iranian in 48 moves of a Pirc Defense for his third straight win.
The Dasmarinas, Cavite bet thus arranged an interesting fourth-round showdown with co-leader Nguyen, who downed IM John Marvin Miciano in 41 moves of a Benoni to likewise stay unscathed.
The Quizon-Nguyen duel was being played at press time.
With his defeat, Miciano slipped to fifth in a tie with 10 others, including Kyle Rhenzi Sevillano, who downed Duta Cahaya Satria.
Jeth Romy Morado missed out on a draw against fourth pick IM Kaumandur Srihari Raghunandan of India to remain at 1.5 points.
In the girls’ side, WIM Kylen Joy Mordido bowed to No. 4 WIM Sakshi Chitlange of India in 61 moves of a Benko Gambit and dropped into a share of fifth spot with 9 others – all with 2 points.
