CANDIDATE Master (CM) Umid Azlanov of Azerbaijan defeated Cebuano Jerish John Velarde in the seventh round of the Fide World Schools Individual Championships 2015 held at the Dusit Thani Pattaya in Pattaya, Thailand.
The eight-year-old Velarde from Lapu-Lapu City dropped to 12th in the under-nine division with 4.5 points following the loss to the sixth-seed Azlanov.
Velarde was set to face third-seed CM Leon Luke Mendonca of India late yesterday. Their match was being played as of press time.
Meanwhile, Russian Ilya Makoveev remained at the top spot of the standings with 7.0 points.
Running second is Deng Yu Dong Michael of Hong Kong with 5.5 points and Azerbaijan’s Aslanov at third also with 5.5 points.
Fourth to 11th placers after the seventh round were CM Islombek Sindarov (5.5) of Uzbekhistan, Diego Saul Rod Flores Quillas (5.5) of Peru, Romania’s Lulian Mihai Anghel (5.5), CM Magizhnan Nikhil (5.0) of India, Thailand’s Songkasem Upachan (5.0), Ern Merrick Tan Yi (4.5) of Singapore, CM Mendonca (4.5) and UAE’s Khaled Khalifah (4.5).