Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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-
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Daniel Rensch
Email: acechess@chess.com
GREATEST FILIPINO CHESS GRANDMASTER EVER FACES YOUNGEST U.S. GRANDMASTER IN ONLINE SPEED CHESS BATTLE
GM Wesley So (Philippines) And GM Ray Robson (USA) Will Compete In 3-Hour Blitz Marathon As World Watches
On Monday July 30 shortly after 6:00 am PHT, the clock will start, beginning a non-stop three-hour showdown between two of the world's brightest young chess stars. The match, which could see as many as 50 games, will be held online at Chess.com and will be available for anyone to watch via live streaming video.
Born and raised in Bacoor, 18-year-old Wesley So achieved the title of Grandmaster at age 14 and is the highest-rated Filipino player of all time. In 2008 he became the youngest person to ever achieve a rating of 2600 or better, breaking a record formerly held by the world's #1-rated player, Magnus Carlsen. The following year, he won 1st place in his group at the prestigious Corus Chess Tournament in the Netherlands.
So's opponent, 17-year-old Ray Robson of Florida, became the youngest American Grandmaster in history in 2009, also at age 14. He has won many national scholastic titles and competed in multiple US Championships, and other events around the world. He won the US Junior Chess Championship in 2009, one of the youngest players ever to do so.
The online match between these these two rising stars will test their classical chess skills, their ability to calculate quickly, and their endurance. They will have exactly three hours to complete as many games as possible, with the time-controls for each game getting shorter as the match progresses, from 5 minutes per side at the beginning, down to just 1 minute during the final phase. The prize is $1000.00 USD.
The event will be commentated by International Masters David Pruess and Daniel Rensch, and will feature interviews with So and Robson before and after the competition. This match is part of an ongoing series hosted by Chess.com, and will be viewable by anyone at www.chess.com/tv starting at 6:00am PHT, Monday, July 30.
Post a Comment