RP team opens bid in World Chess Cup

RP team opens bid in World Chess Cup
abs-cbnNEWS.com 11/21/2009 8:03 PM

MANILA -- The World Chess Cup has officially begun, with three Filipino grandmasters (GM) Wesley So, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., and Darwin Laylo facing tough opponents in the first round of the competition’s knock out stage in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

The 16-year-old So will have GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan as his first opponent.

According to an on-line commentary of chess Website Red and White, Guseinov is one of the strong GMs from Azerbaijan. The commentary however said Guseinov is the “"unlucky" guy to face the So”.

If So succeeds in his first-round match, he will face either GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine or GM Alexei Bezgodov of Russia in the second round.

Antonio, meanwhile, will be the underdog against defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the US who topped the 2007 edition at the expense of Spanish GM Alexei Shirov.

Antonio first met Kamsky in the 2005 HB Global Challenge in Minneapolis, USA. The game, where Antonio employed his pet line caro-kann defense, ended in a draw.

Should Antonio pull an upset this time against Kamsky, he will face the winner between GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel and GM Zhou Weiqi of China in the second round.

Laylo, the third Filipino participant in the World chess Cup, will test the mettle of GM David Navara of Czech Republic.

The World Chess Cup, which has a total prize fund of $1.6 million, will run from November 20 to December 15.

By Marlon Bernardino
as of 11/21/2009 8:03 PM
Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.co