Doroy upsets Kazakh IM in Pacquiao Cup

WOMAN FIDE Master Allaney Jia Doroy stunned second seed International Master Gulishkan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan to keep the country’s title hopes alive after four rounds of the 7th Asian Continental Chess Championships (2nd Manny Pacquiao Cup) at the Tiara Hotel in Makati City Thursday night.

Doroy, 17, showed she’s stronger than her current FIDE rating of 1972 as she slew a heavily favored Nakhbayeva, who is the second highest rated woodpusher in the women’s division with a rating of 2371, to make a lot of heads turn.

The National University standout thus zoomed into the top 10 as she

coleaders WFM Turmunkh Munkhzul of Mongolia, IM out Padmini of India and IM Pham Le Thao Nguyen of Vietnam with 3.5 points apiece.

Doroy was playing 18th seed WIM Dewi Ardhiani Anastasia Citra in

tournament backed by Sen. Manny Pacquiao, the Philippine Sports Commission and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines headed by Cong. Butch Pichay.

It was Doroy’s third straight solid effort after she also shocked Olympiad veteran WIM Catherine Secopito (2145) and split the point with WFM Li Yunshan (2196) of China in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Her lone loss came in the first round against WFM Turmunkh Munkhzul.

International Master Ricky de Guzman, for his part, struck the hardest in the men’s section after he bested IM Sumiya Bilguun of Mongolia, to gatecrash into a 22-player tie at 10th place with 2.5 points each.

De Guzman, the 1981 Asian Juniors titlist, was battling Uzbekistan’s IM Nodribek Yakubboev, who trounced Filipino IM Haridas

slots to the World Cup next year.

Half a point behind de Guzman were IM Roderick Nava, IM John Marvin Miciano, and GM Darwin Laylo.