THE world’s blindfold chess king Grandmaster Timur Gareyev of the United States lived up to his top-seed billing, leading with a perfect 6 of 6 showing on Tuesday afternoon, November 5 going to the last three rounds of the Asenso Misamis Occidental Sports and Cultural Center, Capitol Complex in Oroquieta City.
Racking up five-straight wins over Hezziel Alcebar, Janmyl Dilan Tisado, Aljie Cantonjos, Sherwin Tiu and National Master Raymond Salcedo, the 36-year-old Uzbekistani, who now lives in the USA, came barely five minutes late against Filipino GM Darwin Laylo in sixth of the nine-round Fide-rated rapid chess skirmishes with time control of 15 minutes and 3 seconds increment.
Coming from a victory over Fide Master Ellan Asuela, Laylo was pressing for a mid-game assault, but his Knight to d5 sacrifice backfired, allowing Gareyev to finish their highly tactical match with still 43 seconds left on his clock against the Filipino’s 17.
A Queen check on the h-file had Laylo extending a hand in surrender as he was facing either mate in two or mate in three moves with time ticking away.
“I already played those Queen’s Indian lines in the past and had beaten some GMs, but somehow may nakalimutan akong variation along the way,” said Laylo in a later post-game conversation with International Master Rolando Nolte.
For the uninitiated, Gareyev ― who was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 3, 1988 ― shattered the 45-game blindfold record made by Miguel Najdorf at Sào Paolo in 1947 with his own 48 games simultaneously played in Las Vegas in December 2016.
Gareyev, who peaked at 2682 elo ratings in February 2013 when he was ranked No. 68 in the world, scored 80 percent in those blindfold games while riding on an exercise bike in 23 hours that is now regarded as the new record in the world's Guinness Book.
“He traveled long from Gensan, maybe he’s a friend of Manny Pacquiao, and must have heard about our tournament here. It must be a welcome development for Gareyev who is also known as a grizzled traveler around the world,” said event organizer Arena Grandmaster Rey Urbiztondo.
The 19-year-old Michael Concio Jr defeated fellow International Master Joel Pimentel to face Gareyev in the seventh round in what was billed as a battle between the only two unbeaten players, brandishing a similar six points.
Trailing them at 5.5 points are GM Rogelio Antonio Jr, the country’s newest GM in 20-year-old Daniel Quizon, and FM Austin Jacob Literatus.
Quizon and Literatus were also playing on board 2, as of this writing, while Antonio handled black on board 3 against Pimentel, who is tied with Laylo and 10 others at 5 points in this two-day chessfest, staking nearly P500,000 in total cash prizes.
In the 17-under division, the 15-year-old world blitz champion Christian Gian Arca from Panabo City, Davao Oriental is leading the field by a full point with his perfect 7 of 7 performance going to the last two rounds.
Metro Manila’s Mar Aviel Carredo, on the other hand, is also unbeaten going to the last seventh round against Bince Rafael Operiano (5.5 points) from the Bicol region in the 13-under category.
