by Marlon Bernardino
GM Wesley Barbasa So of the Philippines now climbed up to 28th rank in the January 2014 FIDE world ratings ladder.
The 20 year-old Webster University sophomore student So, the top player of National Chess Federation of the Philippines Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. and Secretary-General Cavite Rep. Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino Jr., tallied 2719 Elo Rating, the country’s highest ever achieved in the sport and likewise the only player so far to surpass the 2700 mark.
His recent tournament victories in 2013 Pan American Inter-Collegiate Championship in Lubbock, Texas , Europe ( Hoogeveens and Reykjavik) and North Americas (US Open and Canada) boosted his ascent at the top of the rankings order.
According to NCFP Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. and Secretary-General Cavite Rep. Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino Jr., So's next tournament is the upcoming 76th edition of the Dutch tournament Tata Steel on January 10 to 26, 2014.
This year for the first time the grandmasters of the A-group will play one round in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and one round in the High Tech Campus Eindhoven.
The competition will gather players with a high average coefficient of 2744 Elo points. Other invited players are GM Levon Aronian of Armenia (2803), GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA (2786), GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782), GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782), GM Boris Gelfand of Israel (2777),GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia (2756), GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba (2754), GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany (2737), GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands(2737), GM Pentala Harikrishna of India (2708), GM Richard Rapport of Hungrary (2687) and GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands (2678).
Last year's edition was won by GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway (2872). The Tata Steel tournament was formerly known by the name of the city that traditionally hosted the event, Wijk aan Zee, then named Corus and finally given its current name.
Meanwhile, the Philippines bested other powerhouse chess countries like Latvia, Sweden, Argentina and Denmark based on per nation’s top ten players. Currently, Philippines is now at 29th place a point after Brazil.
Philippines top ten active players are: GMs Wesley So 2719, Julio Sadorra 2595, Oliver Barbosa 2579, John Paul Gomez 2541, Joseph Sanchez 2525, Rogelio Antonio Jr. 2517, Darwin Laylo 2511, Mark Paragua 2499, Rogelio Barcenilla 2475, Roland Salvador 2462.
Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre slipped to number 11th position with his 2427. Also noted is GM Mark Paragua’s ratings who lost several points and fell behind the 2500 mark.
New addition to the country’s titled list of players is the 19th IM Roderick Nava 2388 whose title was approved by FIDE in last month’s chess congress.
36th Nelson "Elo" Mariano III, 2318, and 57th Adrian Ros Pacis, 2268, also got their Fide Master title.
