GRANDMASTER (GM) Jayson Gonzales destroyed Anusha Narava Lakshmi of India to re-enter the top 10 even as Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna and International Master (IM) John Marvin Miciano turned back their respective foes to stay in the hunt after six rounds of the Burgse Meesters in Burges, Belgium Tuesday night.
Gonzales, who drew with FIDE Master Georgi Tomov of Bulgaria in the fifth round early in the day, thus hiked his total to 4.5 points, which was good for a place in the 13-player logjam at seventh spot or a full point behind solo leader GM Wan Yunguo of China.
The 49-year-old Gonzales was playing top seed GM Nikolov Momchil of Russia in the seventh round at press time.
Frayna, 22, bounced back from a fifth-round defeat to Dutch IM Lucas Van Foreest with a sixth-round win over German Maximilian Ponomarev while Miciano, 17, blasted Belgians Guillaume Chauvon and Nando De Blende to barge into the top 20 with four points each.
Frayna, whose trip here is backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and The Philippine STAR president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte, and Miciano hope to move further the standings with wins over Belgium’s Gert Van Vooren and Sweden’s Joachim Bergre, respectively.
