GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Lowly-rated GM Novendra Priasmoro of Indonesia outgunned GM Pa Iniyan of India to grab solo first place after five rounds of the Manny Pacquiao International Chess Open Wednesday here.

Priasmoro, who took a quick draw against fourth seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Bulgaria in Round 4, went all out with the white pieces in the fifth round against the second seed Iniyan in the other match of the day. He won after 41 moves of a very tactical Reti game.

Bringing a precarious half-point lead ahead of the pack, Priasmoro, seeded only 16th here with a 2406 Elo rating, was playing the black pieces against sixth seed N.R. Visakh, another Indian GM, in the sixth round.

Against the 23-year-old Iniyan, Priasmoro loaded his two rooks on the e-file and aimed at the enemy king with a bishop and queen on the long dark diagonal, aided by a knight, threatening mate and a passed pawn in the queenside forcing Iniyan to resign.

Priasmoro is one of four Indonesians who is vying for the $20,000 first place prize put up by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. The tournament attracted 13 grandmasters from 12 other countries also gunning for the $10,000, $5,000, $4,000 and $3,000 prizes from second to fifth places.