3 Pinoy GMs gear up for World Cup

GRANDMASTER Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr. said he isn’t too confident of his chances when he joins the World Chess Cup slated on Nov. 20 to Dec. 15 in Russia.

“Thirty percent chance lang na manalo kay (Gata) Kamsky, pero lalaban tayo,” said Antonio.

Kamsky is the reigning world champion.

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The 12-time National Open champion Antonio is fresh from an impressive eight-win and one-draw performance in the 3rd Asian Indoor Games blitz chess competition in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Antonio first joined the World Chess Championships in 1999 in the US, where he lost in the second round of the playoff against eventual runner-up GM Vladimir Akopian of Armenia.

The first meeting between Antonio and Kamsky was in the 2005 HB Global Challenge in the US.

The game ended in a fighting draw after Antonio employed his pet line Caro-Khan defense with the black pieces.

Antonio is rated 2574,while Kamsky is 2695.

If Antonio pulls an upset against Kamsky, his second round opponent in this Fide knockout tournament will be the winner between GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel and GM Zhou Weiqi of China.

If Antonio wins his second round assignment, he could meet compatriot GM Wesley So in the third round if the latter also wins his first two matches.

So, rated 2640, will face GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan, rated 2625. A victory will pit him with either GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and GM Alexei Bezgodov of Russia in the second round.

GM Darwin Laylo, the other member of the RP chess team, will face GM David Navara of the Czech Republic. (PR)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 13, 2009.

World Chess Cup 2009 Pairings of Round 1

FIDE is publishing the pairings of the 1st round of the World Cup 2009.


World Cup 2009 Round 1
Table White Fed Black Fed

1 1 GM Gelfand, Boris ISR - 128 IM Obodchuk, Andrei RUS
2 2 GM Gashimov, Vugar AZE - 127 IM Sarwat, Walaa EGY
3 3 GM Svidler, Peter RUS - 126 IM Hebert, Jean CAN
4 4 GM Morozevich, Alexander RUS - 125 IM Abdel Razik, Khaled EGY
5 5 GM Radjabov, Teimour AZE - 124 IM Ezat, Mohamed EGY
6 6 GM Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR - 123 GM Bezgodov, Alexei RUS
7 7 GM Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR - 122 GM El Gindy, Essam EGY
8 8 GM Grischuk, Alexander RUS - 121 IM Sriram, Jha IND
9 9 GM Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS - 120 GM Rizouk, Aimen ALG
10 10 GM Wang, Yue CHN - 119 GM Kabanov, Nikolai RUS
11 11 GM Eljanov, Pavel UKR - 118 GM Al Sayed, Mohamad N. QAT
12 12 GM Karjakin, Sergey UKR - 117 GM Rodriguez Vila, Andres URU
13 13 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE - 116 GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS
14 14 GM Shirov, Alexei ESP - 115 GM Kunte, Abhijit IND
15 15 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB - 114 GM Smerdon, David AUS
16 16 GM Movsesian, Sergei SVK - 113 GM Yu, Yangyi CHN
17 17 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA - 112 GM Yu, Shaoteng CHN
18 18 GM Alekseev, Evgeny RUS - 111 IM Pridorozhni, Aleksei RUS
19 19 GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny RUS - 110 GM Ivanov, Alexander USA
20 20 GM Wang, Hao CHN - 109 GM Friedel, Joshua E USA
21 21 GM Navara, David CZE - 108 GM Laylo, Darwin PHI
22 22 GM Malakhov, Vladimir RUS - 107 GM Amin, Bassem EGY
23 23 GM Bacrot, Etienne FRA - 106 GM Nijboer, Friso NED
24 24 GM Rublevsky, Sergei RUS - 105 GM Morovic Fernandez, Ivan CHI
25 25 GM Jobava, Baadur GEO - 104 IM Robson, Ray USA
26 26 GM Motylev, Alexander RUS - 103 GM Hess, Robert L USA
27 27 GM Kamsky, Gata USA - 102 GM Antonio, Rogelio Jr PHI
28 28 GM Vitiugov, Nikita RUS - 101 GM Gupta, Abhijeet IND
29 29 GM Bologan, Viktor MDA - 100 GM Adly, Ahmed EGY
30 30 GM Naiditsch, Arkadij GER - 99 GM Hou, Yifan CHN
31 31 GM Bu, Xiangzhi CHN - 98 GM Pelletier, Yannick SUI
32 32 GM Polgar, Judit HUN - 97 GM Pavasovic, Dusko SLO
33 33 GM Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ROU - 96 GM Lupulescu, Constantin ROU
34 34 GM Sargissian, Gabriel ARM - 95 GM Li, Chao b CHN
35 35 GM Onischuk, Alexander USA - 94 GM Flores, Diego ARG
36 36 GM Cheparinov, Ivan BUL - 93 GM Kryvoruchko, Yuriy UKR
37 37 GM Efimenko, Zahar UKR - 92 GM Milos, Gilberto BRA
38 38 GM Sutovsky, Emil ISR - 91 GM Zhou, Weiqi CHN
39 39 GM Najer, Evgeniy RUS - 90 GM Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan IRI
40 40 GM Tiviakov, Sergei NED - 89 GM Iturrizaga, Eduardo VEN
41 41 GM Areshchenko, Alexander UKR - 88 GM Corrales Jimenez, Fidel CUB
42 42 GM Sasikiran, Krishnan IND - 87 GM L'Ami, Erwin NED
43 43 GM Smirin, Ilia ISR - 86 GM Ehlvest, Jaan USA
44 44 GM Baklan, Vladimir UKR - 85 GM Shabalov, Alexander USA
45 45 GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar IND - 84 GM Filippov, Anton UZB
46 46 GM Fier, Alexandr BRA - 83 GM Khalifman, Alexander RUS
47 47 GM Fressinet, Laurent FRA - 82 GM Sjugirov, Sanan RUS
48 48 GM Meier, Georg GER - 81 GM Petrosian, Tigran L. ARM
49 49 GM Grachev, Boris RUS - 80 GM Bartel, Mateusz POL
50 50 GM Caruana, Fabiano ITA - 79 GM Bruzon Batista, Lazaro CUB
51 51 GM Sokolov, Ivan NED - 78 GM Fedorchuk, Sergey A. UKR
52 52 GM Milov, Vadim SUI - 77 GM Negi, Parimarjan IND
53 53 GM Timofeev, Artyom RUS - 76 GM Leitao, Rafael BRA
54 54 GM Inarkiev, Ernesto RUS - 75 GM Gustafsson, Jan GER
55 55 GM Savchenko, Boris RUS - 74 GM Shulman, Yuri USA
56 56 GM Kobalia, Mikhail RUS - 73 GM Sandipan, Chanda IND
57 57 GM Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA - 72 GM Le, Quang Liem VIE
58 58 GM Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS - 71 GM Akobian, Varuzhan USA
59 59 GM So, Wesley PHI - 70 GM Guseinov, Gadir AZE
60 60 GM Granda Zuniga, Julio E PER - 69 GM Sakaev, Konstantin RUS
61 61 GM Laznicka, Viktor CZE - 68 GM Papaioannou, Ioannis GRE
62 62 GM Andreikin, Dmitry RUS - 67 GM Nyback, Tomi FIN
63 63 GM Mamedov, Rauf AZE - 66 GM Zhou, Jianchao CHN
64 64 GM Amonatov, Farrukh TJK - 65 GM Volkov, Sergey RUS