Salvador heads Vietnam cast

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Roland Salvador heads the Philippine cast in the first HD Bank Cup Open Chess Tournament which gets underway tomorrow in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Other Filipino bets are GMs Darwin Laylo, John Paul Gomez, IMs Richard Bitoon, Oliver Barbosa, Kim Steven Yap and Oliver Dimakiling, FM Haridas Pascua, NMs Emmanuel Senador and Egdar Reggie Olay, Rodolfo Panopio Jr. and Merben Roque.

Among the top players vying for the top prize of $6,000 are Vietnamese GMs Le Quang Liem (2689), Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2628) and Cao Sang (2547) and Chinese GMs Yu Yangyi (2606), Zhao Jun (2606) and Zhou Weiqi (2595).

The tournament is a nine-round Swiss System competition with time control of 90 minutes for the whole game with an addition of 30 seconds per move starting from move one. Draw offers before 30 moves are not allowed.