Causo upsets highly-rated Kazakh for share of chess lead
10/04/2009 02:45 PM
Little-known Deniel Causo provided the biggest surprise in the fifth Prospero Pichay Cup international chess championship, pulling the rug from under No. 14 seed GM Anuar Ismagambetov of Kazakhstan to join the lead pack after two rounds at the LWUA Bldg. in Diliman, Quezon City.
Prior to upsetting Ismagambetov (ELO 2528), the 29th-seeded Causo (ELO 2334) also won over Arnel Pinero in the first round late Friday.
Top seed GM Mikhail Mchedlishvili of Georgia subdued IM Chito Garma in the first round and GM Neelotpal Das of India in the second while newly-crowned President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup champion GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan humbled Rhobel Legaspi and GM Jayson Gonzales to lead the foreign challenge in the nine-round tournament .
GM Dao Thien Hai of Vietnam and Li Shilong of China also swept their first two matches to gain a share of the early lead. Dao, one of two Vietnamese players in the field, beat Allan Macala and IM Emmanuel Senador while Li, the lone Chinese participant, repulsed Elias Lao and FM Leonardo Carlos.
Aside from Causo, the other Filipino players with perfect scores of two points were GMs John Paul Gomez, Darwin Laylo and Mark Paragua and IM Richard Bitoon.
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