SUBIC—Rising star Marie Antoinette San Diego bested Bakhora Abdusattorova of Uzbekistan on Tuesday to lead the Philippine charge in the 2011 Asian Youth Chess Championships at the Subic Bay Travelers Hotel.
It was the fourth straight win for San Diego, seeded third to last among 24 entries, who grabbed the solo lead with a perfect 4.0 points in the girls 12 years old and under category.
San Diego kept her half-point lead over two-time world under 8 champion Marias Ivana Furtado, conqueror of fellow Indian Kamacheti Priyamvada, going into their fifth-round showdown.
Samantha Glo Revita dumped Diana Omyrbekova of Kyrgyzstan and Charlotte Paez tripped Kit Wong of Macau to prop up their bid in the same category.
Also in strong contention is Cherry Ann Mejia, who beat Mengui Qui of China to boost her total to 3.5 points in the girls 16 under bracket.
After sweeping his first three matches in the boys 16 under division, Jan Emmanuel Garcia settled for a draw with No. 4 seed Antonio Viani Cunha of India.
Other fourth round results saw Alcon John Datu thwart Maksat Akunov of Kyrgyzstan and Joey Albert Florendo conquer W.C. Perera of Sri Lanka in the boys 18 under category; Dave Patrick Dulay hurdle Amirsalar Javidfar of Iran in the boys 16 under; Daryl Unix Samntila down Ortik Nigmatov of Uzbekistan and Daniel John Lemi beat Tsogbayar Baterdene of Mongolia in the boys 12 under.
Pangasinan’s Prince Mark Aquino, who toppled seventh seed Nguyen Van Hai of Vietnam in the thid round, bowed to Jahongir Vakhidov of Uzbekistan in the boys 18 under class and stayed at 2.5 points.
Two-time Olympian Cheradee Chardine Camacho yielded to Hoang Thi Nhu of Vietnam in the girls 18-under and shared sixth to eighth places with 2.5 points.