Garcia draws with Carlsen in WR ASEAN ESports Chess Cup
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino International Master Jem Garcia flew to Bangkok, Thailand hoping to catch a big fish.
He caught the biggest of them all — former world chess champion Magnus Carlsen.
Garcia drew with Carlsen in 51 moves off a King’s Indian Attack in the fourth and final round of Group A action of the WR ASEAN ESports Chess Cup at the Four Seasons in the Thai capital on Saturday.
That standoff, however, failed to earn the Olympiad veteran a spot to the quarterfinals as he only ended up third in the first of the four-team bracket of this 22-player tournament.
He could have but he couldn’t convert his winning material advantage against Spanish Grandmaster Jose Martinez in the third round and lost.
Carlsen and Martinez advanced instead in the event organized by WR Chess founded by Wadim Rosenstein, the same man who funded the inaugural WR Bughouse Championship early this month in BGC, Taguig.
Garcia thus became the latest Filipino who had drawn with Carlsen, which came exactly a decade after United States-based GM Julio Catalino Sadorra escaped with a split in the 42nd World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.
And Garcia will go home with a smile on his face after drawing with a stellar chess figure like Carlsen.
- Latest
- Trending
