Chessmoso
Thursday, October 18, 2012
WESLEY So is the best player the Philippines has ever produced.
So became a grandmaster at 14 years, one month and 28 days, making him the eighth youngest in the history of chess. In October 2008, he was rated 2610 and thus became the youngest player to become a Super GM at that time.
So was born in Bacoor, Cavite on Oct. 9, 1993 to William and Eleanor So, who are both accountants. His father taught him to play chess at age six. He started to compete in junior active chess tournaments at a very early age.
Now there is a possibility that Wesley might migrate to Canada and the Philippines could lose a potential world champion. Remember WIM Arianne Caoli who migrated to Australia several years ago? She played board 1 for Australia in the last Olympiad in Istanbul.
In fact, Wesley’s family has been living in Canada for two years now and being a minor, Wesley was surely also approved as immigrant.
He has been in Canada for some time and won both the Toronto Invitational and the Quebec Open recently.
Right now, Wesley is studying as a freshman-scholar at Webster University in St. Louis under the Spice (Susan Polgar Institute of Chess Excellence) program.
The Spice Cup 2012 tournament is now ongoing and the players are (all GMs): Le Quang Liem, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Ding Liren, Csaba Balogh, Wesley So and Georg Meier.
Only four games out of 15 have been decisive and after five rounds Wesley and Maxime are leading with 3 points.
tournaments. The monthly winner of the Lapu-Lapu Chess Club last weekend was 15-year-old Ariel Abellana. He was followed by Rolando Torres, Aldwin Daculan, Romeo Resuera and Giovanni Borongan.
Also last weekend, the J Mall Centre Open Tournament was won by Rommel Ganzon Carlos Moreno via tiebreak. Joel Pacuribot got third place, while Michael Pagaran and Bryle Arillano got the fourth and fifth places.
Cepca’s October champion was new member Dr. Ben Rodriguez, while Jojo Muralla and Mike Banebane got second and third places.
I understand that a new member, Professor Ronald Galindo of USC, will be donating a custom-built trophy for Cepca’s grand final winner. Many thanks Ronald!
Coming tournaments. There will be a tournament tomorrow at 10 a.m. in SM Consolacion exclusive for residents. There were will be an open division and an elementary and secondary categories. The event is part of the town’s fiesta celebration and registration is free in all categories. Format is seven rounds Swiss with time control of 25 minutes.
Cepca will be sponsoring again a tournament among inmates at the Mandaue City Jail upon the invitation of warden Jesse Calumpang on Oct. 24 starting at 1 p.m.
The inmates will be celebrating their National Correctional Consciousness week.
Take note of the Colonnade Open Tournament sponsored by Cepca on Oct. 27-28. Format will be active and may either be 7 or 9 rounds, depending on the number of participants.
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