By Lynde Salgados
Correspondent

TWO Filipinos, Fide Master Sander Severino, and National Master Jasper Rom now share the lead with Russian FM Lipilin Ilia and 15 others with perfect three points in the 4th World Championship for People with Disabilities, which resumes tonight via Tornelo online format.

Severino and Rom have produced brilliant wins with the black pieces opposite FM Lukasz Nowak of Poland and Griffin McConnell of the United States on Sunday's Round three to sustain their winning ways.

The Silay City, Negros Occidental pride Severino, who bagged the 2020 International Physically Disabled Chess Championship, and the Danao, Cebu City stalwart Rom both relied on their deep understanding with the French defense in besting Nowak and McConnell in 54 and 60 moves, respectively.

However, in the Bucholz tiebreaker for the perfect scorers, the fifth-seed Severino and the 13th-seed Rom occupied joint 6th place. While the top-seeded Grandmaster Tazbir Marcin of Poland, also with three points, checked in at 18th spot.

The five-man PH Paralympic team scored three wins, one loss, and one draw on Day three action of the 50-nation 10-day chess competition which saw the two-game roll of the visually-impaired Filipino National Master Rodolfo Sarmiento end at the hands of the higher-ranked Leonel Amato of Argentina.

Debuting in the world championship arena, the Tagaytay City native Sarmiento was trying to salvage a one-pawn deficit endgame position when his time flagged down after 41 moves of the d4’s Irregular Opening duel, thus dropping him at 49th place with the two-one record.

Arena Grandmaster Henry Roger Lopez of Panabo, Davao del Norte had his second draw opposite Szymon Kasperczyk of Poland to go along with his single win for a two-point total good for 75th place.

Youthful NM Darry Bernardo of Angeles City, Pampanga was all fire on board after his second-round loss to Malaysia's Pin Xie Loo.

Seething with revenge, Bernardo needed just 27 moves of the Carrokan Exchange variation to annihilate Ardian Syah Muming of Malaysia for his second victory that landed him at 91st place among a total of 246 participants around the world.

“When he exchanged early for an open game that fits my style, I went immediately for an all-out attack. Pressured, he blundered with d6 move that cost him a whole piece down,” Bernardo said.

The nine-round Swiss tournament with 45 minutes + 30 seconds increment per move is an individual competition with a different team ranking.

Its winners will earn the titles of “World Chess Champion among Disabled 2021” in the individual ranking and “World Chess Team Champion among Disabled 2021” in the team competition.