4th PGMA CUP final Results- GM Filippov wins the tourney

GM Anton Filippov won the 4th PGMA Cup tourney after drawing his final round assignment with tournament top seed GM MCHEDLISHVILI. Actually it was a four way tie at 6.5 points with GM NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son ,GM Ehsan GHAEMMAGHAMI ,and GM Merab GMGAGUNASHVILI.

Filipino top performers were world Cup bound GM Rogelio Antonio,IM Oliver Dimakiling,GM Bong Villamayor rounding up the top 10.

Complete results below:

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.
1	gm	FILIPPOV Anton	UZB	2595	6.5
2	gm	NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2589	6.5
3	gm	GHAEMMAGHAMI Ehsan	IRI	2579	6.5
4	gm	GAGUNASHVILI Merab	GEO	2564	6.5
5	gm	GEETHA Narayan Gopal	IND	2598	6.5
6	gm	MCHEDLISHVILI Mikhael	GEO	2613	6
7	gm	ANTONIO Rogelio Jr.	PHI	2557	6
8	im	DIMAKILING Oliver	PHI	2434	6
9	gm	VILLAMAYOR Buenaventura	PHI	2426	5.5
10	gm	WONG Meng Kong	SIN	2403	5.5
11	gm	KOTANJIAN Tigran	ARM	2553	5.5
12	gm	GOMEZ John Paul	PHI	2521	5.5
13	im	BITOON Richard	PHI	2490	5.5
14	gm	ISMAGAMBETOV Anuar	KAZ	2528	5.5
15	gm	DAS Neelotpal	IND	2471	5.5
16		SENADOR Emmanuel	PHI	2367	5.5
17	gm	GONZALES Jayson	PHI	2457	5.5
18	im	DABLEO Ronald	PHI	2417	5
19	gm	LAYLO Darwin	PHI	2537	5
20	gm	KOSTENKO Pyotr	KAZ	2491	5
21	gm	DAO Thien Hai	VIE	2542	5
22	gm	LI Shilong	CHN	2531	5
23	im	NOLTE Rolando	PHI	2424	5
24		ANDADOR Rolando	PHI	2260	4.5
25		OLAY Edgar Reggie	PHI	2323	4.5
26	im	GARMA Chito	PHI	2331	4.5
27	gm	PARAGUA Mark	PHI	2501	4.5
28		MACALA Allan	PHI	2266	4.5
29	fm	CARLOS Leonardo	PHI	2334	4.5
30		MORAZO John Ranel	PHI	2172	4.5
31	im	TIRTO	INA	2407	4.5
32		SEGARRA Randy	PHI	2300	4.5
33		SEVILLANO Voltaire	PHI	2358	4.5
34		CAUSO Deniel	PHI	2334	4.5
35	fm	PASCUA Haridas	PHI	2310	4.5
36	wgm	NADIG Krutika	IND	2273	4
37		LUMANCAS Lyndon	PHI	0	4
38		BAGAMASBAD Efren	PHI	2311	4
39		DELA CRUZ Richard	PHI	2155	4
40		ELORTA David	PHI	2364	3.5
41		ABELGAS Roel	PHI	2180	3.5
42		PORTUGALERA Ric	PHI	2221	3.5
43		ALISANGCO Nicomedes	PHI	0	3.5
44		GARMA Edgardo	PHI	2345	3.5
45		LABAY Rainier	PHI	2248	3.5
46		JORDA Danilo	PHI	0	3.5
47		BRANZUELA Ali	PHI	2288	3
48		RIVERA Albert	PHI	2172	3
49		CORDERO Angel	PHI	0	3
50		POLAO Ben	PHI	0	3
51	gm	TORRE Eugenio	PHI	2535	2.5
52	im	NADERA Barlo	PHI	2400	2
53		LEGASPI Edmundo	PHI	2158	1.5
54		YULO Gerardo	PHI	0	1.5
55		DIAZ Conrado	PHI	2254	1
56		GEPIGA Glicel	PHI	0	1

Susan Polgar on Wesley So

Here is Susan Polgar's warm greetings to Wesley So fans in an online chess community. For sure Susan has an eye for talent and would definitely agree on what she said "Stick with this kid, he has a bright future"

Full page comment below:

Susan Polgar: It's an absolute pleasure to have Wesley and William here at the SPICE Cup in Lubbock and Texas Tech. They are wonderful people.

Playing in an open tournament and playing in a round robin/double round robin tournament is very different. It requires different approach, preparation, psychology, and training, etc. This is an important learning process for Wesley. Next time he will improve.

Wesley certainly got the respect from the big guys. No one will offer you a draw if they think they can beat you :)

I am sure this is not the last time we will hear about Wesley at the SPICE Cup.

One thing I hardly see from any other player is the support Wesley got from the Filipino community in the Philippines, in the US, in Texas, and around the world. There were people who drove I believe 5-6 hours to come and support Wesley and William. Stick with this kid, he has a bright future.

I will continue to update news about Filipinos players and Wesley on my blog and please feel free to send me any article that I may have missed.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

SPICE CUP 2009 -Aftermath

After more than a week of chess..guess what these chess players want? Yep you are right more Chess!!!


Akobian stretching his muscles by doing chess push ups


Wesley So checking out the fruits :)

Leeam entertaining the titled players and guests with his newly learned song.



credits to chessmarketing and SPICE CUP 2009

SPICE CUP 2009 Final Scores

GM Yuriy Kusubov is SPICE Cup 2009 Champion after winning the blitz games tiebreak against Andreikin and Mamedov. Although Filipinos from around the world are in high spirits for their bet Wesley So to take over the tournament.However, it was still worth considering that it was good exposure playing a category 16 tourney and with only one point difference from the champions.

In group B, USA dominated the pack with Eugene Perelshteyn taking the crown. It was also a sweet victory for the americans as IM Ben Finegold obtained his final grandmaster norm and become a full pledge chess grandmaster. Click here for more of SPICE Cup 2009.

B Group (GM norm: Ben Finegold - IM norm: Danny Rensch)

1-3. Perelshteyn, Eugene g USA 2534 6
1-3. Bhat, Vinay g USA 2473 6
1-3. Finegold, Benjamin m USA 2513 6
4. Robson, Ray m USA 2491 5½
5. Papp, Gabor m HUN 2558 5
6-8. Rensch, Daniel f USA 2392 4
6-8. Kuljasevic, Davorin m CRO 2547 4
6-8. Antal, Gergely m HUN 2479 4
9. Diamant, Andre m BRA 2520 2½
10. Ippolito, Dean m USA 2455 2

A Group

1-3. Kuzubov, Yuriy g UKR 2635 5½
1-3. Andreikin, Dmitry g RUS 2648 5½
1-3. Mamedov, Rauf g AZE 2645 5½
4-6. Hammer, Jon Ludvig g NOR 2583 4½
4-6. So, Wesley g PHI 2646 4½
4-6. Akobian, Varuzhan g USA 2626 4 1/2

SPICE CUP 2009-LIVE !!!! RND 9

Chess Realm Trivia. . .

It is said that chess is a simple game. All you have to do is checkmate your opponent's King and the game is over. But would you know how many possible moves, including illogical but legal ones, there are to play the first four moves of the white and black pieces in a game? From 100 to 200, or 1,000 to 10,000? No, says the mathematician.

There are 318,979,654,000 (318 billion, 979 million, six hundred fifty-four thousand) possible ways. By the time you get to the problem of how many ways there are to play the first 10 moves, the number is 169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 (169 0ctillion, etc.).

A Nation's Passion for Chess

Last Saturday, BBC website gave in interesting report about a country's passion for chess. Title of this article was "Armenia revels in its chess prowess" and talked about the country's love for the game of KINGS.Full article on BBC excerpts of the article are posted below:


National obsession

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Opera Square in the capital Yerevan, to watch the games being displayed on giant boards, as the moves were relayed from Moscow.

The result led to an outpouring of patriotic fervour. That same year, John F Kennedy was assassinated.

"In America everyone can remember where they were when Kennedy was shot," one man tells me. "Here in Armenia, everyone of a certain age can recall the exact moment Petrosian became world champion."

From that moment on, chess became a national obsession.

Chess house

In the centre of Yerevan, there is an imposing four-storey, Stalinist-era edifice where anybody can turn up for a quick blitz game, lasting just a few minutes, or a more measured contest of several hours.

Passion even the government share

Later I meet the president of the Armenian Chess Federation. The interview had taken months to arrange.

That may seem odd until you realise that in his spare time, he is also president of the country.

His cabinet consists of two Tigrans - the prime minister and the finance minister.

The state already offers free training to the most promising players, and a guaranteed salary (equivalent to the average wage) to any Armenian who reaches the elite title of grandmaster.

The president now plans to introduce chess into the school curriculum.

"We don't want people to know Armenia just for the earthquake and the genocide," President Serge Sarkisian said. "We would rather it was famous for its chess."

Reading from above, Armenia is now part of my travel list. Robbing elbows with their locals and play chess would surely be a dream come true. Someday :)

4th PGMA Cup-round & results

Round 7 was rained with draws on the top boards of the 4th PGMA Cup. GM retained leadership after settling for a truce with GM Tigran Kotanjian. Filipino IM Richard Bitoon is just a hairline away from the tournament leader after drawing with GM GHAEMMAGHAMI Ehsan. Complete results are show below.

Round 7 on 2009/09/29 at 0900 HR
Bo.		Name	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name
1	gm	NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son	5	½ - ½	4½	gm	KOTANJIAN Tigran
2	gm	NAYANAN Getha Gopal	4½	½ - ½	4½	gm	WONG Meng Kong
3	gm	GAGUNASHVILI Merab	4½	½ - ½	4½	gm	FILIPPOV Anton
4	im	BITOON Richard	4½	½ - ½	4	gm	GHAEMMAGHAMI Ehsan
5	gm	MCHEDLISHVILI Mikhael	4	1 - 0	4	gm	KOSTENKO Pyotr
6	gm	LAYLO Darwin	4	½ - ½	4	gm	ANTONIO Rogelio Jr.
7	im	DIMAKILING Oliver	4	½ - ½	4	gm	ISMAGAMBETOV Anuar
8	gm	DAO Thien Hai	3½	0 - 1	3½	gm	VILLAMAYOR Buenaventura
9	gm	LI Shilong	3½	0 - 1	3½	im	DABLEO Ronald
10		ELORTA David	3½	0 - 1	3½	gm	GOMEZ John Paul
11	im	GARMA Chito	3½	½ - ½	3½	gm	GONZALES Jayson
12		OLAY Edgar Reggie	3	0 - 1	3	gm	DAS Neelotpal
13		BRANZUELA Ali	3	0 - 1	3		SENADOR Emmanuel
14		SEVILLANO Voltaire	3	1 - 0	3		CAUSO Deniel
15	fm	CARLOS Leonardo	3	0 - 1	3		MACALA Allan
16		MORAZO John Ranel	3	0 - 1	3		SEGARRA Randy
17	fm	PASCUA Haridas	2½	1 - 0	2½	gm	TORRE Eugenio
18	wgm	NADIG Krutika	2½	0 - 1	2½	gm	PARAGUA Mark
19	im	NOLTE Rolando	2½	1 - 0	2½		PORTUGALERA Ric
20	im	TIRTO	2½	1 - 0	2½		RIVERA Albert
21		GARMA Edgardo	2½	0 - 1	2½		ANDADOR Rolando
22		BAGAMASBAD Efren	2½	½ - ½	2½		LUMANCAS Lyndon
23		LABAY Rainier	2	1 - 0	2		POLAO Ben
24		JORDA Danilo	2	1 - 0	2		CORDERO Angel
25		DELA CRUZ Richard	2	0 - 1	1½		ABELGAS Roel
26		ALISANGCO Nicomedes	1½	1 - 0	1		GEPIGA Glicel
27		YULO Gerardo	½	1			bye
28	im	NADERA Barlo	2	0			not paired
29		DIAZ Conrado	1	0			not paired
30		LEGASPI Edmundo	1½	0			not paired