Seventh seed FIDE Master Arif Abdul Hafiz firmed up his hold of the lead and kept a half-point lead by beating second seed IM Josiah Stearman in the seventh and held to a fighting draw Filipino GM Darwin Laylo in the eighth round Monday.
Going into the final round, the 24-year-old Indonesian Hafiz has tallied seven points, half a point ahead of Laylo going into the final round of the Manny Pacquiao/1000 GM International Chess Open in General Santos City.
Playing black in the seventh round against the 20-year-old Stearman of the United States, Hafiz was solid with his fianchettoed king and tactically accurate in extracting the point.
The chess teacher from Bogor, Indonesia, however, missed some winning chances in his complicated endgame with Laylo and could have won the title outright should he not miss playing the winning lines.
“I made a blunder in the opening and lost a whole piece early. Fortunately, I was able to complicate the position and forge a tie,” said Laylo after his game with Hafiz.
He threw every trick in the book but Hafiz had answers as they split the point.
The 43-year-old Laylo was at solo second with 6.5 points. He beat top seed Indonesian GM Novendra Priasmoro in the seventh round and escaped with the draw with Hafiz. His lone loss came in the fourth.
Playing at press time was Hafiz, who was paired with his good friend and fellow Indon Priasmoro from nearby Jakarta. Priasmoro had six points and was tied for third and fourth with Filipino IM Eric Labog, one of the most solid performers in the tournament.
After his loss to Laylo in the seventh round, Priasmoro was relentless in downing young FIDE Master Mark Jay Bacojo of the Philippines to climb back in contention.
The 21-year-old Labog was still unbeaten as of press time as he was handling the black pieces against Laylo. He has scored four wins and four draws thus far.
Tied for fifth to 12th places with 5.5 points were fourth seed IM Oleg Bagmatsyrenov, playing under the FIDE banner, fifth seed IM Alexey Polschikov of Russia, ninth seed Dutchman Ruud Van Meegen, and locals IM Hamed Nouri, IM Rolando Nolte, and untitled Sherwin Tiu, Jayson Salubre and Mark Kevin Labog.
