Confident So, Viet GM take on Zonal lesser lights

MANILA, Philippines - GMs Wesley So and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam hope to hurdle their respective lesser-fancied rivals in the Asian Zone 3.3 Chess Championships which got under way late yesterday at the Tagaytay International Convention Center in Tagaytay.

“I really prepared hard for this event and I hope to play again in the World Cup,” said the 19-year-old So, who took a break from his studies in the US to vie for one of the two World Cup slots in the tournament.

The top-seeded So, who saw action in the World Cup in 2009, is playing Rustum Tolentino at presstime.

Nguyen, on the other hand, is pitted against Fide Master Rudin Hamdani of Indonesia in the other featured match kicking off the top-level tournament which features the region’s leading players.

The top two finishers will gain slots in the World Cup set Aug. 10-Sept. 5 in Norway.

GM Oliver Barbosa, meanwhile, withdrew at the last minute, having clinched a World Cup berth with a fifth-place finish in the Asian Chess Championship in Vietnam last year.

In other matches, 12-time National Open champion GM Joey Antonio goes up against Edgar Reggie Olay, Vietnamese GM Dao Thien Hai faces IM Firman Syah Farid of Indonesia, defending champion GM Susanto Megaranto, also of Indonesia, plays FM Tran Tuan Minh of Vietnam and IM Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan of Mongolia tangles with Roger Sarip.

GM John Paul Gomez duels with Yeoh Li Tian of Malaysia, newly crowned PSC chess champion GM Mark Paragua clashes with Manny Yu, IM Nguyen Van Huy of Vietnam squares off with FM Mari Joseph Turqueza, and IM Nguyen Doc Hoa of Vietnam tests Nelson Mariano III.