Wesley So wins Battle of GMs
Overwhelms opposition from start to finish
By Roy Luarca
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:51:00
04/01/2009
Final standings:MEN: 18.0—W. So; 14.0—R. Antonio; 13.0—E. Torre; 12.0—M. Paragua, J. Gomez; 11.5—D. Laylo; 11.0—J. Sadorra, R. Bitoon; 9.0—R. Nolte; 8.0—J. Gonzales; 6.5—B. Villamayor; 6.0—R. Dableo
WOMEN: 17.0—Shercila Cua; 16.5—B. Mendoza; 15.0—Sherily Cua; 14.0—J. Fronda, C. Bernales; 12.0—D. Rivera; 11.0—L. Cuison; 9.0—K. Cunanan; 8.0—C. Perena; 5.0—J. Docena; 4.0—R. Young
DAPITAN CITY—A big gap exists between Wesley So and the rest of the field in the Battle of Grandmasters here.
Already beyond reach, So capped his successful title-retention campaign with a victory over fellow GM Darwin Laylo in the 11th and final round Tuesday night at the Dapitan City Resort Hotel.
His seventh win against four draws gave So a runaway total of 18 points, four up on second placer GM Rogelio “Joey” Antonio, who drew with GM Eugene Torre after 31 moves of a Bogo Indian.
So, an incoming high school senior at St. Francis-Cavite, led from start to finish to win the P200,000 champion’s purse.
Starting hot, So hurdled GM Buenaventura Villamayor, GM John Paul Gomez, Torre, IM Rolando Nolte and GM Jayson Gonzales before being held to a draw by Antonio in the sixth round.
The 15-year-old So, Group C champion of this year’s Corus Chess Tournament in the Netherlands, then coasted along with successive draws against GM Mark Paragua, IM Julio Catalino Sadorra and IM Richard Bitoon.
Antonio bagged the runner-up purse of P100,000, with Torre pocketing P80,000 for finishing third with 13 points.
Other final-round matches saw Paragua subdue Sadorra in 41 moves of a French Defense and Gomez and Nolte agreeing to a truce after 37 of a Sicilian.
With 12 points each, Paragua and Gomez tied for fourth and won P50,000 each in the tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and supported by Phoenix Petroleum and the Dapitan City council through Mayor Dominador Jalosjos Jr.
Source: http://sports.inquirer.net
What happened to Shulman? Wasn’t he leading before?
So What?
Wesley So is the greatest chess talent to come out of the Philippines. No one is even close, he is their Fischer! Congrats and I have a feeling this is not the last we will see of this balut eating individual.
Uh, what is balut?
Balut is a duck egg artificially incubated to about 21 days then soaked in a salty environment. It is then cooked and eaten with its delicious “fetal duckling” inside it and the yolk.
You should taste this. It is very delicious!!!
Visit the Philippines or ask any Filipino neighbor if you are in the US, they might be able to order them for you.
A little know fact is that Bobby Fischer also ate Balut. Maybe Balut and top level chess has a correlation?
Some Filipino old-timers consider balut a poor man’s Viagra:-}
That is true. Bobby Fisher likes Balut while he was in Baguio City, Philippines.
Whether it helps chess or (?)poorman’s viagra, I do not know. Maybe the later is nearer to the truth. Bobby has a child with his Filipina girl in Baguio.
I bet Wesley So might have been from a Fischer tryst. Test Wesley for anti-semitism to find out…