GM WESLEY SO REMAINS BLITZ CHESS MAESTRO; GRABS GOLD IN ASIAN CHESS

FILIPINO Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So lived up to his billing as the Asia's No. 1 blitz chess player after winning the 11th Asian Continental Individual Chess Championships Blitz competition on Sunday at First Hotel, Tan Binh in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He went undefeated en route to his another successful victory in the Blitz competition. He scored 6 wins and 3 draws (total 7.5 points out of nine games of play) against 7 GMs and 2 IMs to clinch first place. GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and IM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam and GM Ding Liren of China finished second to fourth placers with 7.0 points each. Other Filipino woodpushers who participated in the Blitz chess competition of the Asian chess meet are GM Mark Paragua (6.0 pts., 10th place), GM Oliver Barbosa (5.5 pts., 22nd place) GM John Paul Gomez (5.0 pts., 29th place), GM Darwin Laylo (4.5 pts., 35th place), GM Eugene Torre (4.5 pts., 37th place) and IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia (4.0 pts., 40th place). It shall be recalled that the Bacoor, Cavite pride So tallied perfect score enroute the gold medal in the last year's Southeast Asian Games blitz tournament in Indonesia. "Blitz is a very exciting form of chess, with every player getting a mere 5 minutes to complete the game. This somehow leveled the playing field, resulting in a high rate of upsets!" said former Olympian GM Jayson Gonzales, Executive Director of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) headed by Chairman/ President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. -Marlon Bernardino-