Concio draws with Grebnev

World Cup veteran IM Michael Concio Jr. came through with another brilliant performance as he held top seed and defending champion GM Aleksey Grebnev of Russia to a draw in the fifth round of the Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships at the Knights Templar Hotel here Wednesday.

Concio, the country’s highest-rated junior player but seeded only eighth in the tournament with an ELO of 2368, played superbly with the white pieces to split the point with Grebnev after 48 moves of the Nimzo-Indian.

Both Concio, who is best remembered for representing the country in the 2021 World Cup held in Sochi, Russia, and Grebnev have five pawns each when the game was drawn.

The fifth-round draw snapped Grebnev’s four-game winning streak and put Concio in a three-way tie for second to fourth places with four points in the nine-round Swiss system event organized by the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) in cooperation with the Tagaytay City government, Philippine

Olympic Committee (POC)  and  Philippine Sports Commisison (PSC).

Equally impressive was FM Gian Karlo Arca, who outlasted  Chen Y. Yu of Taipei in  marathon  74 moves of the English opening.

Arca, who lost to Concio in their all-Filipino showdown in the fourth round Tuesday, climbed to a share of fifth to ninth places with 3.5 points, a full point behind Grebnev with still four rounds left.

Phil Martin Casiguran humbled K K Dinujaya’ Kodithuwakku of Sri Lanka, Davin Sean Romualdez bested compatriot AIM Andrew James Toledo to move up to three points.

Not as fortunate were AFM Andrei Ainsley Dolorosa, who yielded to IM Artem Uskov of Russia and Almwayne Magpusao, who fell to CM  Ragavesh Velavaa of India.

In the girls division, WIM Anna Shukhman of Russia walloped Dhanashree Khairmode of India to keep her perfect record with five straight wins.

ACM Ainul Mardhiah Mohd of Malaysia upset No. 3 seed WIM Zeinep Sultanbek of India to move up to solo second place with four points.

It was a bad day for the Filipinas, with WFM Jemaican Yap Mendoza losing to WFM V. Rindhiya of India, Elle Castronuevo falling to No.5 WFM Kristina Popandopolu of Kazakhstan and Apple Rubin bowing to WFM Devindya Oshini Gunawardhana of Sri Lanka.

Arleah Cassandra Sapuan was the lone Filipina winner as she defeated Alexis Rian Justo of Guam