Survey says So favored in SPICE
by Ed Andaya
Wednesday, 27 October 2010 19:58
GM Wesley So of the Philippines is heavily favored to rule this year’s SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) Group A tournament which begins Thursday at the University of Texas in Lubbock, Texas.
Based on one-line survey conducted by SPICE through pollcode.com free polls, So is picked to win by 132 of 276 voters or a total of 48 percent.
Top seed GM Zoltan Almasi of Hungary and GM Alexander Onsichuk of the United States tied for second with 22 percent of the votes.
Almasi, a member of the highly-rated Hungarian team in the recent 39th World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, garnered with 60 votes.
Onischuk, who also represented the United States in the recent Olympiad, had 59 votes.
The three other participants in the double-round robin, category 16 tournament received minimal votes.
GM George Meier of Germany received ten votes ( 4 percent), GM Ray Robson of the United States also received ten votes ( 4 percent) and GM Eugene Perelshteyn of the United States received five votes ( 2 percent).
“I’m ready and confident,” said So in a message sent to National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president Prospero “Butch” Pichay.
“This will be my second time in the SPICE Cup and I hope I can improve my fourth-place finish last year,” added So, who finished behind GMs Rauf Mamedov, Dmitry Andreikin and Yuriy Kuzobov last year.
The 17-year-old Filipino champion will make his debut against Onischuk (ELO 2688) in the first round on Thursday.
After Onischuk, So will play Perelshteyn (ELO 2528) in the second round on Oct. 29, Robson (ELO 2539) in the third round on Oct. 30, Meier (ELO 2659) in the fourth round on Oct. 31 and Almasi (ELO 2707) in the fifth round on Nov. 1.
The tournament takes a one-day break on Nov. 2.
So will then resume his campaign against Onischuk in the sixth round, Perelshteyn in the seventh round, Robson in the eighth round, Meier in the ninth round and Almasi in the 10th and final round.
This will be the eighth major international appearance for So this year.
Source: http://journal.com.ph
Pl add my vote for
GM George Meier
Looks like a lot of Filipinos voted in that poll.
I worry that Wesley has gotten timid lately. He’s been giving up a lot of draws.
I agree with SCUGrad. Wesley will need to start taking risks and playing for wins if he wants to join the ranks of the elite young GMs.