Rom, Bernardo catch up with Severino at 10th spot of World Chess para championship

FILIPINOS Jasper Rom and Darry Bernardo down their respective rivals to catch up on countryman Sander Severino in the top 10 after five rounds of the World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities on Tuesday night.

Mr. Rom blasted Mario Pallerols Duran of Cuba in 43 moves of a Queen’s Gambit while Bernardo waylaid Jerome Esteban of Spain in 50 moves of a King’s Indian Attack to leapfrog to a share of the No. 10 spot with four points.

There they joined Mr. Severino, who ended up with a second straight draw, this time against Dmitrij Danilchenko in a marathon 75-move result of a Queen’s Pawn game where the former ended up with a king and a rook against the latter’s king and pair of galloping knights.

All three remained in title contention with four rounds to go.

In the sixth round at press time, Mr. Severino was tackling Ganbat Dashtseren of Mongolia, Mr. Rom playing Zarko Selkovski of Macedonia and Mr. Bernardo clashing with Ejaz Husain of Bangladesh.

With 3.5 points and still in the thick of things was Henry Lopez, who split the point with Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of India in 35 moves of a Benoni. — JV