Campomanes Memorial Cup Report

Final standings: (Filipinos unless stated)

Men

7 points –J. Zhao (China), L.Q. Liem (Vietnam)
6.5 — L. Ding (China), J. Zhou (China), M. Gagunashvili (Goergia), A. Filippov (Uzbekistan)
6 — W. So, D. Laylo, E. Ghaemmaghami (Iran), M. Kazhgaleyev (Kazakhstan),. C. Li (China), R. Bitoon , T. Gelashvili (Georgia)
5.5 — H, Ni (China), Z. Zhang (Singapore), E. Senador, O. Barbosa

Women

7.5 points –Y. Shen (China)
7 — X. Zhao (China)
6.5 — A. Pourkashiyan (Iran)
6 — T.N. Hoang (Vietnam)
5.5 — T.B. Hoang (Vietnam)
5 –J. Palomo, S. Cua

GM Zhao Jun of China made history by becoming the first-ever champion in the Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup chess championship even as GM Wesley So lived up to his billing by emerging as the top Filipino player at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium along Adriatico St. (infront of Harrison Plaza), Manila.

Zhao, seeded only 11th in the 72-player field, settled for a draw with newly-crowned Pichay Cup champion GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan to finished in a two-way tie for first place with top seed GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam with a nine-round total of seven points in this prestigious tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in honor of the late great Filipino chess leader.

Le, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2681, trounced GM Zhou Jianchao of China in the day’s most decisive result.

Zhao, however, edged Le for the title by virtue of higher tiebreak score.

They split the combined first and second prizes and went home with US$9,500 each.

The 24-year-old campaigner from Shandong, who became China’s 19th GM at age 17 during the 2004 World Junior Chess Championships in Cochin, finished with five wins and four draws.

Le, one of seven Vietnamese players in the field, also wound up with the same 5-4-0 win-draw-loss record.

Four players — GM Liren Ding of China, Zhou, GM Merab Gagunashvili of Georgia and Filippov — shared third to sixth places with 6.5 points.

They pocketed US$ 6,500 apiece.

The highest-placed Filipino players turned out to be So, GM Darwin Laylo and IM Richard Bitoon, who finished in a seven-way tie for seventh to 13th places with six points.They received US$1,914 each.

So settled for a quick draw with GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Kazakhstan in only 20 moves of the Slav to clinch seventh place based on tiebreak scores.

Here is the full article.