IM Quizon, 15, stuns Torre in 56 moves

International Master (IM) Daniel Quizon brought down iconic GM Eugene Torre to storm back into contention after two rounds in the Asian Continental Chess Championships in Xingtai, China Saturday night.

Quizon, 15, toppled 67-year-old Torre after 56 moves of a Ruy Lopez to recover lost ground after an opening round defeat to Chinese IM Xu Yi the day before.

The win catapulted the Cavitebased Quizon into a 20-player jam at 30th place, a full point behind five leaders headed by ninth seed GM S.P. Sethuraman of India with two points.

Torre was the latest of many big names Quizon defeated after the teen sensation also stunned GM Joey Antonio in a 12-game blitz match, IM John Marvin Miciano and reigning national juniors champion Jeth Romy Morado in the National Juniors tournament less than a week ago.

Quizon was battling 13th seed GM Suri Vaibhav of India in the third round at press time.

Also leapfrogging back into contention were GMs John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo, who downed IM Chu Wei Chao of China and Bai Adelard of Chinese Taipei in the nine-round tournament staking five slots to the Chess World Cup set Sept. 9 to Oct. 2 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, the lone Filipino who survived the first round by drawing with 14th pick GM Chithambaram Aravindh of India, wasn’t as fortunate as he succumbed to No. 8 GM Lu Shanglei of China.

In women’s play, WIM Bernadette Galas pulled the rug from under WGM Ghate Dwati of India to barge into the 11-player tie at 13th spot.

The group included WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego and WFM Shania Mae Mendoza, who split the point.

WGM Janelle Mae Frayna lost to Mongolian IM Bathkuyag Munguntuul and sputtered below the standing.