World Chess Olympiad-bound Grandmaster Darwin Laylo scored a vengeful win over GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhtan in a crucial seventh-round encounter to vault into contention for top honors in the first FIDE president Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup chess championships Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Laylo took a brisk deviation from a previous game he played against Kazhgaleyev during the sixth Prospero Pichay Cup two weeks ago and came away with a decisive victory after 55 moves of the Gruenfeld.

The 30-year-old campaigner from Lipa City finished off the higher-rated Kazhgaleyev (ELO 2619) with a brilliant combination.

Laylo’s dramatic victory capped the Filipinos’ impressive showing for the day in the nine-round competition organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in honor of the late great Filipino chess leader.