MANILA---International Master Rolando Nolte of the Philippines drew with Grandmaster Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam while top seed Grandmaster Susanto Megeranto of Indonesia split the point with Grandmaster Darwin Laylo of the Philippines to remain tied for the lead after five rounds in the AQ Prime ASEAN Chess Championship at the Great Eastern Hotel (formerly Aberdeen Court), Quezon Avenue in Quezon City on Tuesday.
Nolte and Megaranto both tallied 3.5 points in this 11-round event organized by International Master Roderick Nava of Kamatyas Chess Club and sponsored by AQ Prime Proprietor and President Atty. Aldwin Alegre.
Nolte settled a truce with Van Huy after 40 moves of King's Indian defense while Megaranto agreed to a draw with Laylo after 13 moves of Bogo-Indian defense.
Nolte, who got his first norm in the Kolkata Open in India, has been riding the crest of his third place finish in last December’s Manny Pacquiao International Open in General Santos where he ended up tied for first and eventually third and the highest Filipino finisher.
It also kept Nolte’s bid of claiming the second of the three results required to become a full-fledged GM, a goal that has pursued for decades now since taking up the sport.
GM John Paul Gomez, on the other hand, halved the point with countryman IM Daniel Quizon after 29 moves of King's Indian defense to pad his tally to 3.0 points good for a four-way tie for third place together with Laylo, IM Paulo Bersamina of the Philippines and IM Li Tian Yeoh of Malaysia.
Bersamina settled to a draw with FM Prin Laohawirapap of Thailand and so did as Yeoh and IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher of Indonesia; IM Mohamad Ervan of Indonesia and CM Khuong Duy Dau of Vietnam.
Yeoh only needs 1 GM Norm to become the 1st Grandmaster of Malaysia. He already 2 GM Norms.-Marlon Bernardino-
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