IM Miciano grabs solo lead at the Netherlands chessfest

INTERNATIONAL Master John Marvin Miciano claimed another Grandmaster scalp as he shocked fifth seed GM Vyacheslav Ikonnikov of Russia in 62 moves of a super-sharp King’s Indian duel to seize the solo lead after five rounds of the 22nd Hogeschool Zeeland chess tournament in Vlissingen, the Netherlands Tuesday night.

Playing black, Miciano, 17, came out the aggressor as he launched a kingside attack that netted him a rook before finding a way to stop Ikonnikov’s central passed pawn to extract the full point to zoom to the top spot with a perfect five points.

Miciano, whose rating of 2381 paled in comparison with Ikonnikov’s 2546, actually declined a draw offer on the 55th move after he found the winning moves with a pawn and rook sacrifice that prevented the latter from queening his pawn.

When the game ended, Miciano was left with an unstoppable promoting pawn against Ikonnikov’s two useless pawns.

Ikonnikov became Miciano’s second GM victim after he also slew sixth seed GM Zeng Chongsheng of China the round before.

Miciano, whose trip is funded by the Philippine Sports Commission and Far Eastern University where he plays top board, was playing top seed GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina in the sixth round at press time hoping to keep his lofty perch.

Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna, who is supported by the PSC and The Philippine STAR president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte, waylaid Swiss Duke Kreutzmann to storm back to contention with 3.5 points.

Frayna was battling Dutch Robert Oosting.

GM Jayson Gonzales, who coaches Miciano and Frayna, drew with IM Marcel Peek of the Netherlands to stay in the top 20 with four points.