FIDE Master Sander Severino lost his grip of the lead and fell to a share of seventh place after halving the point with Russian Maksim Ermakov in the fourth round of the World Chess Championship for People with Disabilities on Monday.
Mr. Severino, the 36-year-old world champion for the physically disabled, allowed Mr. Ermakov to equalize early, no thanks to the former’s opening misadventures that resulted to a 49-move draw of a Queen’s Gambit Declined for half a point.
That sent the multiple ASEAN and Asian Para Games gold medalist from a share of the lead to a piece of the No. 7 spot with 3.5 points, or half a point off the six-player lead pack.
But Mr. Severino remained the highest ranked Filipino as he’s half a point ahead of Jasper Rom, Darry Bernardo and Henry Lopez, who have three points each.
Mr. Rom likewise slipped out of the lead group following a 33-move setback to Argentinian Leonel Amato of a French duel while both Bernardo and Lopez sprung back to life by downing Marie Mulin of France and Juan Carlos Montenegro of Argentina, respectively. — JV