Grandmaster So leaves for Corus Chess
By Roy Luarca
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:22:00 01/15/2009
MANILA, Philippines—After the Middle East, Europe beckons for Grandmaster Wesley So.
The Filipino teen sensation leaves on Thursday to compete in the 2009 Corus Chess Tournament slated Jan. 16 to Feb. 1 in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, hoping to start the year with a bang.
So, currently the world’s youngest Grandmaster at 15, is fresh off a brilliant stint in the recent 1st Asia Club Cup held in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, where he emerged best Board One performer after leading Tagaytay City-Philippines to a fourth place finish among 30 teams.
With his ELO rating soaring to 2627, So will be the top seed in Group C of the three-division tournament where the Philippines will be represented for the first time.
According to Wesley’s father William, his son should have been in the tougher Group B, but organizers of the event issued the invitation six months ago, when Wesley’s rating was just 2577.
Bracketed with So in the Category 11 (average rating 2521) tournament were British GM David Howell (2622), Swedish GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (2586), Indian GM Abhijeet Gupta (2569), Danish GM Frisco Nibjoer (2560), Mexican GM Manuel Leon Hoyos (2542), Ukrainian GM Oleg Romanishin (2533), Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (2528), German GM Frank Holzke (2524), Indian WGM Dronavalli Harika (2473), Russian Fide Master Anish Giri (2469) and Danish International Masters Roeland Pruijssers (2444), Manuel Bosboom (2418) and Ali Bitalzadeh (2400).
At stake in Group C is the champion’s purse of 1,000 euros ($1,322).
Source: http://sports.inquirer.net
Susan, you should recruit this kid to Texas Tech chess team. He is only in high school. If you can get a couple more GM’s along with IM Antal, then Tech is a very strong team that will make the perenial powerhouse collegiate teams a run for their money!
Friso Nijboer (Nibjoer..?), Bosboom, Pruijsers and Bitalzadeh aren’t Danish but Dutch.Dutch means from The Netherlands.
So, currently the world’s youngest Grandmaster at 15?
How about Hou Yifan? she is not yet 15.
Susan, I know for a fact that he and his family would warmly welcome a scholarship offer from Tech. I’m pretty sure he wants to go to college and the opportunity to do so in America would be a dream come true.
Anyway, when he plays in the 2009 SPICE Cup, you should take him around campus. Believe me, it won’t take much for you to get him excited about Tech.
Hou Yifan’s GM title hasn’t been approved by the FIDE congress, yet, right? Which means she’s still a WGM.
Hou Yifan’s GM has been approved by FIDE in December 2008. Go to their website to have a look.
Hou Yifan’s GM was approved at 79th FIDE congress on Dec 2008. The link is http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/3583–titles-approved-at-the-79th-fide-congress-
Sorry, the 79th FIDE Congress was held 16-26 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany.
I’m looking at the FIDE website right now, and she’s listed as a WGM, not a GM.
FIDE’s rating website is in a mess at the moment.
Go to the link,
http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/3583–titles-approved-at-the-79th-fide-congress-
You will see that Hou Yifan’s GM was approved at the 79th FIDE Congress held 16-26 November 2008 in Dresden, Germany.
Titles awarded at the 79th FIDE Congress in Dresden, Germany
GM
Country Name
ARG Flores, Diego
ARG Kovalyov, Anton
ARG Valerga, Diego
ARM Melkumyan, Hrant
BUL Bojkov, Dejan
BUL Rusev, Krasimir
CHN Hou, Yifan
CHN Zhou, Weigi
CRO Bosiocic, Marin
CRO Saric, Ivan
more ..
If the FIDE website gives contradictory information, then how can the press be responsible for printing inaccurate information??