Chess:Bersamina, Frayna take charge in Asian Youth Invitational

BEIJING, China, July 14 (PNA)--Reigning national junior champion Paulo Bersamina finally made his presence felt by beating sixth seed FM Shahin Lorparizangeneh of Iran in the boys 12 year sold and under category in the sixth round of the 2010 Asian Youth invitational chess championships at the Beijing Convention Center.

Bersamina who is best remembered for becoming the youngest player to win the national junior championships held in Davao City early this year, vaulted into a tie for fourth to eighth places with four points on three wins, two draws and only one loss in the prestigious nine-round competition organized by the Chinese Chess Association in cooperation with the Asian Chess Federation.

The 12-year old Far Eastern University student, who also emerged as the winningest Filipino players with three gold medals in the recent 11th ASEAN + age-group chess championships in Subic, is now only one and a half points behind Wei Yi of China and half point behind Murali Karthikeyan and Diptayan Ghosh of India.

Aside from Lorparizangeneh, Bersmina's other victims were Enkhdalai Munkhdorj of Mongolia in the first round and Jisoo Bae of Korea in the fourth round

The multi-awarded campaigner from Pasay City drew with Hongyu Zhiang of China in the second round and Shaikh Nubairshah of India in the fifth round and lost to second seed Diptayan Ghosh of India in the third round.

"Paulo is also playing well right now. I expect him to perform even better in the final three rounds an dposisbly land in the top five," said head of delegation and coach Idelfonso Datu in his report to National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero "Butch" Pichay and secretary-general Mayor Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino.

Equally impressive was Janelle Mae Frayna, who recorded her third straight win in the girls 14 under category when she pulled the rug from under No.11 seed Bayarsaikhan Yanjinlkham of Mongolia.

Frayna raised her score to four points on three wins, two draws and one loss an dmoved into a tie for third to ninth places.

The twin success by Bersamina and Frayna cushioned the impact of the first loss suffered by FM Haridas Pascua in the centrepiece boys 18 years old and under category.

Pascua bowed to No. 14 Bobur Ohunov of Uzbekistan.

The 17-year-old campaigner from Mangatarem, Pangasinan won his opening-day assignment against T.S.S.Peinis of Sri Lanka in the first round but drew his next four matches against Ali Faghirnavaz of Iran, Hanbin Li of China , second seed Das Debashis of India and No. 13 seed Konstantin Kazakov of Kazakhstan

With the loss, the University of Baguio student dropped into a tie fo r 12th to 18th places in the 28-player field.

In the girls 18 under division, Christy Lamiel Bernales settled for a draw with Shidhali Shetye of India to remain in a tie for 13th to 17th places with three points on two wins, two draws and two losses.

The 10th-seeded Filipina campaigner from Nueva Ecija won her matches against Bilegjargal Bayashgalan of Mongolia int he second round and Munirah Mat Ramin of Malaysia in the third round.

However, she lost to Gohver Joraeva of Turkmenistan int he first round and second seed WFM Mitra Hejazipour of Iran in the fifth round. He ronly other draw came against Shetty Shristi of India in the fourth round.

In other results:

Boys 16 under -- Jan Nigel Galan whipped Bakai uulu Esenbek of Kyrgystan to improve ot three points on three wins and three losses. He is tied for 11th to 16th places.

Boys 14 under – Austin Jacob Literatus crushed Tianchi Jiang of Chian to improve to three points on two wins, two draws and two losses. The Davao City sensation is tied for 15th to 20th places.

Boys 10 under – Haince Patrick de Leon drew with Changwoo Kim of Korea to raise his score to three points, good for a tie for 18th to 26th places.

The Filipinos' campaign is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).(PNA)