Thursday, February 28, 2013

So draws chief rival in 3 moves, loses title

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So went for an early draw with GM Pavel Eljanov but settled for second overall after the tiebreak in the Reykjavik Open chess championships in Iceland yesterday.
So and Eljanov actually finished tied for first with Egyptian GM Bassem Amin, who won his final round match, at eight points but Eljanov finished on top with a superior tiebreak score.
So wound up second and Amin, who beat GM Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland, ended up third.
Eljanov readily accepted So’s draw offer after only three moves of the Gruenfeld defense, according to National Chess Federation of the Philippines chairman/president Butch Pichay Jr.
So, Eljanov and Amin finished with eight points.
According to the official website report, Eljanov was planning to “play a little,” but when his opponent (So) offered the draw, he saw no reason to decline.


So notched a rating performance of 2753, joining the elite Hydra Grandmaster group of players with 2700 and above rating.
The tournament served as part of So’s buildup for the 2013 World Chess Cup set Aug. 10-Sept. 5 in Norway. Joining So in the World Cup is fellow GM Oliver Barbosa.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Hong Bao Blitz Chess Tournament Results

Congratulations to International Master Luis Chiong for tied 1st to 2nd place with 10.0 points in the recently concluded Hong Bao Blitz Chess Tournmanet.  However, due to tie break, IM Chiong placed 2nd.  The tournament was held in SCF last Sunday, February 24, 2013 in an 11 round games.

Congratulations also to the pinoys in the top 10 finishers who are Napoleon Recososa (6th, 7.5 points), Leonard Raymond Reyes (8th, 7.0 points) and International Master Enrique Pacencia (9th, 7.0 points).  

Other pinoy chessers are Dante Ricafort, Leo Buenaobra Jr. and Eric Lalas who has identical 6.0 points.

Final Ranking after 11 Rounds

Rk.NameFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
1IMGoh Koon Jong JasonSIN240910.081.072.500.0
2IMChiong Zacarias Romero LuisPHI233410.079.569.500.0
3FMChan Yi Ren DanielSIN23649.080.560.500.0
4FMTin JingyaoSIN21208.582.059.250.0
5FMSusilodinata AndreanINA23277.574.047.500.0
6Napoleon RecososaSIN19537.574.045.250.0
7Tan WeiliangSIN21917.083.045.500.0
8Leonard Raymond ReyesPHI20557.081.045.500.0
9IMPaciencia EnriqueSIN23657.075.543.000.0
10Woong Zhi Wei WilliamSIN17637.072.039.500.0
Sources:


Monday, February 18, 2013

Hong Bao Rapid Chess Tournament 2013 Results

Congratulations to International Master Luis Choing for winning Open Division and to Anthony Laurences Franco in the Challengers Division int the recently concluded  Hong Bao Rapid Chess Tournament.  The tournament was held in The Singapore Scout Association Auditorium last Sunday, February 17.  

IM Chiong and Anthony Franco both scored near a perfect 6.5 points (6 wins, 1 draw) out of seven rounds.     IM Chiong won against Singapore Weilang Tan to clinch the title.  Anthony just need a draw to consolidate his lead.

Other Filipinos competing in the Open Division are Elton John T. Aguilar (4.5 points, 16th place) and Eric Lalas (3.5 points, 34th place),  Jaime Tiburcio played in the first three rounds but did not continue on the next rounds.  Ray Antonio Bongalon was registered but was a no show.

Pinoys competing in the Challengers Division are Michael Muceros (5.0 points, 18th place), Archie Ramos (4.5 points, 21st place), and Kenneth Gambalan (4.5 points, 25th place).  Archie and Keneth supposedly tied for 19 to 25th places with 4.5 score but was unable to make it to top 20 due to tie break.

Open Division top 3 gets a cash price, while both Open and Challengers Top 20 receives trophies.

Final Ranking crosstable after 7 Rounds (Open, Top 20)
Rk.

Name
FED
Pts.
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1
IM
PHI
6.5
33.0
30.00
0.0
2
FM
SIN
6.0
32.0
26.25
0.0
3
SIN
5.5
30.0
21.50
0.0
4
SIN
5.5
26.5
19.25
0.0
5
CM
SIN
5.0
33.0
22.50
0.0
6
SIN
5.0
31.5
20.50
0.0
7
GER
5.0
31.5
20.00
0.0
8
SIN
5.0
30.5
19.75
0.0
9
SIN
5.0
30.0
20.25
0.0
10
SIN
5.0
26.0
17.75
0.0
11
SIN
5.0
26.0
16.25
0.0
12
MAS
4.5
32.0
17.50
0.0
13
SIN
4.5
31.0
19.00
0.0
14
SIN
4.5
29.5
17.75
0.0
15
SIN
4.5
28.5
16.00
0.0
16
PHI
4.5
27.0
16.75
0.0
17
SIN
4.5
26.5
13.50
0.0
18
SIN
4.5
25.5
15.00
0.0
19
SIN
4.0
28.0
13.75
0.0
20
SIN
4.0
27.5
12.75
0.0


Final Ranking crosstable after 7 Rounds (Challengers, Top 20)
Rk.

Name
FED
Pts.
 TB1 
 TB2 
 TB3 
1
PHI
6.5
34.5
31.75
0.0
2
SIN
6.0
31.0
24.50
0.0
3
SIN
6.0
25.0
21.50
0.0
4
SIN
5.5
33.5
24.25
0.0
5
SIN
5.5
33.0
25.00
0.0
6
SIN
5.5
32.0
23.25
0.0
7
SIN
5.5
31.0
23.00
0.0
8
AUS
5.5
31.0
22.25
0.0
9
SIN
5.5
27.5
20.00
0.0
10
CHN
5.0
31.5
21.00
0.0
11
SIN
5.0
31.5
20.25
0.0
12
SIN
5.0
31.0
19.50
0.0
13
SIN
5.0
30.0
18.50
0.0
14
SIN
5.0
28.0
17.50
0.0
15
USA
5.0
26.5
16.00
0.0
16
SIN
5.0
26.0
16.25
0.0
17
IND
5.0
25.5
17.25
0.0
18
PHI
5.0
25.5
16.50
0.0
19
SIN
4.5
32.0
19.25
0.0
20
SIN
4.5
32.0
17.75
0.0

Sources: