I think the National Chess Federation of Philippines is doing a good job for this tournament. They even have live games for the top 6 boards.

Their url is: http://ncfphilippines.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Well done!

Once again, Wesley So kicks start his Chess tournament with a win against Naua. Other top seeds Li Chao, Zhou Weiqi, Megaranto, Antonio, Gomez, Villamayor also won their games.

Also, un-confirm news regarding Philippine’s Joseph Sanchez got final GM norm making him the 10th GM of Philippines!

2 International Chess tournaments one after the other! I think Malaysian should seriously look at how Philippines develop their Chess talents and learn from them. Just look at how many GMs they produced and how many to come every year. Also don’t forget about Wesley So that going +2600 soon…

A  total of $ 70,000 in cash prizes. The 2nd Philippine Open International Chess Championship is schedule on May 7 - 14, 2008 at the Lounge Area of the Subic Bay International and Convention Center, in Subic Freeport Zone, Olongapo City. The 3rd Philippine Open International Chess Championship will be held from May 16 - 23, 2008 in Clark, Pampanga.

Hopefully, Mas Hafizulhimi can improve his play and perform better. Don’t worry about the norm, it will come when the playing strength is there.

Btw, I’m wandering if any Chess Trainers out there insterested to train him, may be do some analysis of him games and discover some weaknesses. As we know to improve on Chess you need to do the + (plus) and - (minus).

Good night.

It seems that on 20th last month, there were >100 (actually 101 ) visits to my blog.

How interesting. I think that was during my coverage on the Japfa & Wesley vs Susanto match and also the Dubai Tournament…

As perdicted, Wesley So wins Battle of GMs. I am sure we will see more successes from the World’s youngest Grandmaster (hmm…wander how long this will last).

1. So - 8.5
2-3. Torre, Bitoon - 7.5
4. Gomez - 7
5. Antonio - 6.5
6. Sadorra - 5
7-9. Nolte, Barbosa, Donguines - 4.5
10-11. Villamayor, Nouri - 3.5
12. Gonzales - 2.5

Too busy to even visit the tournament but luckily Andrew a.k.a. GilaChess is taking part and update the progress at the venue.

Happy that I managed to mirror his Twitter updates in this blog (see sidebar). Technology works (with the right people)!

With 8 points after 10 rounds and 1.5 points ahead of his closest rivals, Wesley So bagged the Battle of GMs!

Most of the latest results are taken from the www.chessgames.com website.

correction: GM Torre is 7 points.

Wesley So still leads the battle of GMs after 7 rounds with 5.5 points. He drew with NM Nolte. Following closely is GM Torre.

5.5 So
5.0 Torre
4.5 Antonio, Bitoon, Gomez
3.5 Donguines, Nolte
3.0 Barbosa, Nouri
2.5 Sadorra
1.5 Villamayor
1.0 Gonzales

World’s youngest GM, Wesley So still leads after 6 rounds. He drew with NM Nouri in round 5 but continue his winning in round 6 againsts FM Donguines. Placing after 6 rounds are:

1.    Wesley So    5.0

2-3 IM Gomez, GM Torre    4.5

4.    IM Bitton    4.0

5-6    GM Antonio, FM Donguines    3.5

Asia’s 1st GM, Eugene Torre put an end to Wesley So’s winning streak with a draw!

Results for Round 4:

FM DONGUINES 1 - 0 8 NM NOURI
9 GM SO 1/2 - 1/2 7 GM TORRE
10 NM NOLTE 1 - 0 6 GM GONZALES
11 GM VILLAMAYOR 1/2 - 1/2 5 GM ANTONIO
1 IM BITOON 1 - 0 4 IM SADORRA
2 NM BARBOSA 0 - 1 3 IM GOMEZ

National Chess Federation of the Philippine.