GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines: International Master Rolando Nolte considers himself lucky for bringing down two grandmaster opponents on Saturday, yet unlucky enough to miss crossing paths with another GM foe in the ongoing Manny Pacquiao International Open Chess Tournament at the Family Country Homes Convention Center here.

With two GM norms listed in his battle-scarred chess resume, the grizzled Nolte piled up two monumental upsets in a row on Saturday against the top-seeded Indonesian GM Novendra Priasmoro and Filipino GM Darwin Laylo to take the solo lead with a perfect 4 points going into the fifth round of the nine-round Swiss System tournament today, December 10, which stakes some $35,000 in total cash prizes.