DARRY Bernardo overpowered Ejaz Husain of Bangladesh in 25 moves of a seldom used Colorado Counter to carry the country’s fight following stinging defeats by countrymen Sander Severino and Jasper Rom after six rounds of the World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities on Wednesday.
Mr. Bernardo, a member of the Far Eastern University team that won the UAAP gold medal two years ago, outplayed Mr. Husain in the opening where the former emerged a queen up to snare the full point and leapfrog to a group at No. 7 with five points apiece.
Russian Stanislav Babarykin led the way with a perfect six points followed by a five-player group with 5.5 points each.
Mr. Bernardo was clashing with top seed Grandmaster Marcin Tazbir of Poland, a former world champion for people with disabilities, in the seventh round at press time.
He overtook Severino and Rom, who absorbed painful defeats to Ganbat Dashtseren of Mongolia in 60 moves of an English Opening and Zarko Selkovski of Macedonia in 42 moves of a Sicilian duel, respectively.
Severino and Rom were stuck with four points in this nine-round tournament.
Henry Lopez likewise stayed in the hunt as he dumped Luis Anibal Rodriguez Pirela of Venezuela in 45 moves of a Dutch Defense to hike his total to 4.5 points.