So leads RP at Asian Championships

So leads RP campaign in Asian Championships
Tuesday, January 5, 2010

One of the world’s brightest young chess players, Grandmaster Wesley So and two other Filipino World Chess Cup campaigners will hoist the country’s banner in the 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships set April 20 to 30 at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center in Subic.

So, who vaulted into No. 76 in the world in the newest FIDE quarterly list with his highest rating ever of ELO of 2656, will seek one of four 2011 World Cup berths at stake in the prestigious, 11-day competition being hosted by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines for the third time in four years.

At 16, So is now one of the world’s brightest young players, created the biggest sensation in the recent World Cup with a pair of gigantic upset victories over former world championship candidates Grandmasters Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Gata Kamsky of the United States.

The Filipino champion, who is also set to compete in the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands later this month, will gun for his second straight World Cup appearance.

Also seeking another ticket to the World Cup are Grandmasters Rogelio Antonio Jr. and Darwin Laylo, who both lost in their first-round matches in the World Cup.

Antonio, the country’s second highest-rated player behind So, will seek his fourth World Cup appearance, while Laylo, now No. 3, will gun for his third World Cup stint.

At stake in the Asian Individual Chess Championships are US$ 40,000 in cash prizes and four berths to the 2011 World Cup also in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

The champion in the men’s division will bring home the lion’s share of $6,000.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay said hosting the Asian Individual Championship for the third time in four years gives “the Filipino players more chances to qualify since they will be playing before home crowd.”

Pichay said Laylo earned his first ticket to the World Cup by finishing in a tie for third to eighth places during the 2007 Asian Individual championships held in Cebu City.

Here is the full article.