MANILA, PHILIPPINES---IN a battle of young chess masters, Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So snatched the opening game of his six-match battle with fellow GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia late Thursday at the Indonesian Sports Council Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The 14-year-old chess wizard So, whose local and international campaign is being supported by NCFP president Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr., NCFP secretary-general Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino Jr, Filway Marketing CEO/ President Hector "Chito" Tagaysay and businessman Reginald Tee, playing white, took the opening match in 38 moves of a caro-kann, Bf5 variation.
Last Night (Friday), Wesley won again with the black pieces after 36 moves of a Sicilian Defense to take a 2-0 lead against Megaranto.
Just this week, So won the tough 10TH Dubai Chess Open championship besting several other established GM's in a tournament held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
So is the youngest grandmaster to come out of the Philippines and is the 7th youngest GM ever in the history of the sport. With a current ELO rating of 2540 points, So is still several tournaments away of gaining a Super GM norm. He is also current world youngest GM.
Fellow Filipino and New York based Mark Paragua holds the distinction of being the only Filipino Super GM after obtaining best-ever 2621 Elo, two-years ago (April 1, 2006 seed Fide rating list). He is current ranked no.2 with 2538.
A chesser needs to obtain 2600 ELO to become a full-pledged Super GM.
The 20-year-old Megaranto (2561), Indonesia current number one player, achieved chess stardom when at 17 became the youngest GM in Indonesia's chess history, beating Indon GM Utut Adianto who accomplished the feat at age 21.
The game in Indonesia is the fourth meeting between So and Megaranto with the Filipino winning all five of them.
contributed by NM MARLON BERNARDINO
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