Asia Continental event collects top grandmasters
GM Wesley So of the Philippines will be one of the favorites when the 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships, one of the biggest and most prestigious chess competitions in the region, starts on April 20-30 at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center in Subic.
Wesley So, the country’s highest-rated player with an ELO of 2665 based on the FIDE quarterly rating April, will be seeking his first major international title this year and a second straight appearance in the World Chess Cup 2011 next year.
The 16-year-old Filipino champion, who was described as a “gold nugget” by the foreign chess press after beating former world championship candidates GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (ELO 2739), and GM Gata Kamsky of the United States during the 2009 World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, will head the local challenge in this prestigious 10-day competition hosted by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) for the second straight year.
So will be joined by fellow World Cup veterans GMs Rogelio Antonio Jr. and Darwin Laylo, Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre and several other equally-talented chess players.
Among the foreign delegations the players are GMs Ni Hua (ELO 2667) , Zhou Jianchao (ELO 2650) and Li Chao ( ELO 2613) of China, Krishan Sasikiran (ELO 2686) and Pentala Harikrishna ( ELO 2660) of India, Le Quang Liem (ELO 2689), Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (ELO 2642) and Dao Thien Hai (ELO 2523), Susanto Megaranto (ELO 2527) of Indonesia, Zhang Zhong (ELO 2603) of Singapore and Anton Fillipov (ELO 2598) and Khamrakulov Djubarek (ELO 2509) of Uzbekistan.
In all, a total of 60 players, including 19 from China and 12 from India, have already confirmed their participation.
At stake in the Asian Individual Chess Championships are US $40,000 in cash prizes and four berths to the 2011 World Cup also in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The champion in the men’s division will bring home US$6,000.
“We have very good records in the Asian Individual Championships, so I expect our players to continue the trend,” commented Prospero Pichay, who plans to host as many as five international tournaments this year to give the much-needed exposure to the Filipino players.
Among other officials, NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said the top players from Asia are again expected to participate in the nine-round tournament, which is considered as one of the biggest chess competitions in the region. Meanwhile, NCFP executive/events director Willie Abalos said Filipino players have only until April 17 to register for the tournament in accordance with requirements set by the FIDE and the Asian Chess Federation.
To be held simultaneously with the Asian Individual Championship for men is the Asian Individual Championship for women, with a total prize fund of US$15,000. Top female players from Asia, including world No 1 China and India and the former Russian republics, are also expected to send representatives to the women’s championship.
Information by Ed Andaya.
Article Source : Chessdom
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