GENERAL SANTOS CITY — GM Novendra Priasmoro of Indonesia outwitted GM Pa Iniyan of India to grab the solo lead after five rounds of the Manny Pacquiao International Chess Open Wednesday here.
Priasmoro, who took a quick draw against fourth seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Bulgaria in Round 4, went all out with the white pieces in the fifth round against the second seed Iniyan in the other match of the day. He won after 41 moves of a very tactical Reti game to hike his output to 4.5 points.
Bringing a precarious half-point lead ahead of the pack, Priasmoro, seeded only 16th here with a 2406 Elo rating, was playing the black pieces against sixth seed N.R. Visakh, another Indian GM, in the sixth round.
Against the 23-year-old Iniyan, Priasmoro loaded his two rooks on the e-file and aimed at the enemy king with a bishop and queen on the long dark diagonal, aided by a knight, threatening mate and a passed pawn in the quuenside forcing Iniyan to resign.
Priasmoro is one of four Indonesians who is vying for the $20,000 first place prize put up by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, himself a chess fanatic.
The tournament attracted 13 grandmasters from 12 other countries also gunning for the $10,000, $5,000, $4,000 and $3,000 prizes from second to fifth places. Priasmoro also took down the top rated GM from Norway, Johan-Sebastian Christiansen in the third round. He is still languishing way behind the pack with three points, after being held to draws by Filipino opponents Christian Gian Arca and David Elorta in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively.
Breathing down the neck of Priasmoro are four pointers Visakh, third seed GM Jingyao Tin of Singapore, seventh seed Li Min Peng of Switzerland, GM Vitaly Sivukh and (eighth seed), GM Platon Galperin (ninth seed) of Sweden and Naiditsch.
Not far behind with 3.5 pointers are Iniyan, fifth seed GM Timur Gareyev, and Filipinos GM Daniel Quizon, IM Arca, IM Chito Garma and FIDE master Raymond Salcedo.
