by GM Jayson Gonzales
Living legend Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre, commanding the white pieces, played superbly in round 4 of 41st International Barbera Del Valles by dominating his Indian rival all through out the game in their London Opening scrimmage.
Rejuvenated Torre displayed his extra ordinary acumen in technical endgame, good knight versus bad bishop. Anand Saurabh his adversary waved the white flag knowing the eminent defeat cannot be prevented. Thus, giving Torre a thundering triumph, reminiscent of his old form when he reached the World Candidates Finals in the 80’s.
Philippines’ First Woman World Chess Grandmaster WGM Janelle Mae Frayna settled for a draw against 6th seed International Master Venkataraman Karthik from India with a FIDE rating of 2514. Although, Janelle has a minuscule pull in their 31 moves English opening melee by notching a pawn it was not enough for much higher rated opponent to get rattled and for them to split the point.
2018 Asian Youth 18 under Champion International Master John Marvin Miciano seems to be out of form as he was crushed by Indian foe Gupta Saptorshi. Blundering and unexpectedly succumbed to simple combination of knight to f5 check followed by Queen to g5 check which will allow the white’s rook on d1 to capture his Queen on d8 in their Pirc defense battle.
Marvin needs to readjust his frame of mind, be tougher and to have stronger nerves for him to stop the downward trend of his play. And knowing his resilience, he will recover in time and gain his composure to play better.
GM Torre is on 3 points out of 4 games, tied from 5th to 19th places. While WGM Frayna is 2.5 points, tied from 20th to 35th places.