FILIPINO Mark Jay Bacojo defeated a second grandmaster (GM) in a row in scalping Spain’s Eduardo Iturrizaga and jumping right into a share of second in a gaggle that included countryman Jan Emmanuel Garcia within the seventh round of the Singapore International Open on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old Mr. Bacojo dismantled Mr. Iturrizaga’s English Opening in 42 moves in a game where the previous punished the latter for avoiding draw via repetition by counting on a queenside passed pawn in extracting the total point.
When it was over, the Far Eastern University standout emerged with a full rook up and victory on sight.
The round before, Mr. Bacojo brought down Mongolian GM Sumiya Bilguun and can have a likelihood to assert one other GM scalp as he was facing Turkish Vahap Sanal within the eighth and penultimate round Wednesday night.
In the meanwhile, Mr. Bacojo was half a degree behind solo leader GM S.P. Sethuraman of India with six points while sharing No. 2 with nine others including Mr. Garcia, who bested fellow International Master Svyatoslav Bazakutsa of Ukraine.
Mr. Garcia, who’s in search of his first GM norm, himself has caught an enormous fish after slaying super GM Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine within the fifth round and held Mr. Iturrizaga in the subsequent.
A full point off the pace was an enormous pack of five-pointers that included Michael Concio, Jr., who trounced Italian WIM Tea Gueci. — Joey Villar
