Darwin Laylo and Alberto Contador, down the stretch they both have something in common

The other day, I was watching the final stage of 2009 Tour de France. Going into penultimate lap of the tour, the eventual champion, Alberto Contador of Spain, was way way ahead on time to his closest pursuers, that includes his teammate, 7 time champion, Lance Armstrong. At this point of event, protecting the lead is the major plan. One would need to just pace himself, stick around with the pelaton and keep his eyes on the rest of his closest rivals. Now, if you will apply the scenario to chess, Contador would just need to draw his two remaining games and the title was his. But Contador has a different idea, though. He rides very aggressive with each remaining laps. And he was successful! Eventually, the time gap widen into almost unreachable situation for Armstrong and the rest to catch him up.

Needless to say, a draw by Darwin Laylo against Singaporean GM and second seed Zhang Zhong in the final round would guarantee him the title of Zonal 3.3 and a slot at the World Cup of chess this coming November in Russia. But like Contador, Darwin has a different idea! When everyone (including this blogger) expecting a quick, mutual draw, he pulled off a surprise win against Zhang Zhong! I'm not sure if Laylo is following the tour de France but if he's not, then the win drew inspiration from ones natural fighting and competitive instinct. Note: Laylo has a tournament performance rating of 2795, finishing the Zonal undefeated with 7 wins and just 2 draws.


In other development, despite three lackluster drawn games, GM Wesley So find himself qualified for the WCC by agreeing to halve the point with Nguyen Ngoc Truoc Son in the final round, thus joining Rogelio Antonio and Darwin Laylo in the process. This is the first time that three Filipinos, of three different generations, will see action in the World Cup of Chess.

Asian Zonal 3.3 Final Rankings

Rk.			Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1		GM	Laylo Darwin	PHI	2494	8,0	49,0	42,75	9	8	4,99	3,01	0	0,0
2		GM	So Wesley	PHI	2646	6,5	50,0	35,00	9	6,5	6,65	-0,15	0	0,0
3		GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2592	6,0	50,0	31,75	9	6	6,27	-0,27	0	0,0
4		GM	Paragua Mark	PHI	2487	6,0	47,0	30,25	9	6	5,11	0,89	0	0,0
5		GM	Megaranto Susanto	INA	2534	6,0	46,0	28,50	9	6	6,64	-0,64	0	0,0
6		IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	MAS	2391	6,0	44,0	28,50	9	6	4,69	1,31	0	0,0
7		GM	Dao Thien Hai	VIE	2552	6,0	43,5	29,00	9	6	7,01	-1,01	0	0,0
8		GM	Zhang Zhong	SIN	2613	5,5	50,0	28,00	9	5,5	6,24	-0,74	0	0,0
9		IM	Nguyen Thanh Son	VIE	2444	5,5	45,5	28,00	9	5,5	6,17	-0,67	0	0,0
10		IM	Duong The Anh	VIE	2440	5,5	44,5	24,00	9	5,5	5,34	0,16	0	0,0
11		CM	Nguyen Van Huy	VIE	2414	5,5	41,5	21,75	9	5,5	5,62	-0,12	0	0,0
12		CM	Tran Thanh Tu	VIE	2258	5,5	39,5	20,75	9	5,5	4,30	1,20	0	0,0
13		FM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	VIE	2331	5,5	39,0	22,25	7	4,5	3,41	1,09	0	0,0
14			Le Quang Long	VIE	2279	5,5	37,5	22,00	9	5,5	4,99	0,51	0	0,0
15		FM	Kojima Shinya	JPN	2323	5,5	37,0	19,00	8	4,5	4,24	0,26	0	0,0
16		IM	Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy	VIE	2500	5,0	47,5	25,25	9	5	5,58	-0,58	0	0,0
17		IM	Bitoon Richard	PHI	2495	5,0	47,0	22,75	9	5	5,83	-0,83	0	0,0
18			Vo Thanh Ninh	VIE	2340	5,0	46,5	22,25	8	4	3,55	0,45	0	0,0
19			Tran Ngoc Lan	VIE	2176	5,0	46,0	22,00	9	5	2,20	2,80	0	0,0
20		FM	Ton That Nhu Tung	VIE	2227	5,0	45,0	21,00	9	5	2,16	2,84	0	0,0
21		CM	Nguyen Hoang Nam	VIE	2320	5,0	43,5	22,25	8	4,5	3,89	0,61	0	0,0
22		FM	Pham Chuong	VIE	2364	5,0	42,0	21,50	9	5	4,82	0,18	0	0,0
23		IM	Nolte Rolando	PHI	2458	5,0	41,5	23,00	9	5	6,12	-1,12	0	0,0
24		GM	Nguyen Anh Dung	VIE	2474	5,0	38,0	19,25	9	5	6,96	-1,96	0	0,0
25			Bao Khoa	VIE	2161	4,5	50,5	24,00	9	4,5	1,46	3,04	0	0,0
26		FM	Chan Wei-Xuan Timothy	SIN	2344	4,5	47,0	21,75	9	4,5	3,20	1,30	0	0,0
27		GM	Torre Eugenio	PHI	2560	4,5	44,0	18,75	9	4,5	6,95	-2,45	0	0,0
28		FM	Ly Hong Nguyen	VIE	2302	4,5	42,5	19,75	9	4,5	4,21	0,29	0	0,0
29		FM	Lo Kin Mun Dominic	SIN	2154	4,5	42,0	19,50	8	4	2,03	1,97	0	0,0
30		FM	Batchuluun Tsegmed	MGL	2384	4,5	40,0	17,50	9	4,5	4,45	0,05	0	0,0
31		FM	Chan Yi-Ren Daniel	SIN	2358	4,5	37,5	16,50	9	4,5	6,01	-1,51	0	0,0
32		FM	Watanabe Akira	JPN	2339	4,5	37,0	13,00	9	4,5	5,63	-1,13	0	0,0
33		GM	Bui Vinh	VIE	2517	4,0	43,0	16,50	8	3	5,86	-2,86	0	0,0
34		CM	Baba Masahiro	JPN	2229	4,0	41,0	15,50	9	4	4,50	-0,50	0	0,0
35		IM	Tu Hoang Thai	VIE	2405	4,0	39,5	15,75	9	4	6,33	-2,33	0	0,0
		CM	Nguyen Van Hai	VIE	2249	4,0	39,5	15,75	9	4	4,06	-0,06	0	0,0
37		FM	Chua Zheng Yuan Terry	SIN	2226	4,0	39,5	15,25	8	3	2,99	0,01	0	0,0
38		CM	Nguyen Van Thanh	VIE	2173	4,0	38,0	12,25	7	2,5	2,48	0,02	0	0,0
39			Nguyen Minh Tuan	VIE	0	4,0	36,0	16,50	9	4
40			Le Minh Hoang	VIE	1941	4,0	33,0	7,50	5	1	1,07	-0,07	0	0,0
41			Nguyen Manh Truong	VIE	2160	3,5	39,0	11,50	9	3,5	3,35	0,15	0	0,0
42			Tran Quoc Dung	VIE	2196	3,5	37,0	11,75	9	3,5	3,92	-0,42	0	0,0
43		CM	Le Huu Thai	VIE	1873	3,5	36,5	10,50	8	3	1,46	1,54	0	0,0
44			Nguyen Hung Cuong	VIE	2035	3,5	36,0	13,25	7	2	3,01	-1,01	0	0,0
45		FM	Vuong Trung Hieu	VIE	1964	3,5	35,5	10,75	8	2,5	1,71	0,79	0	0,0
46			Nguyen Sy Hung	VIE	2013	3,5	34,5	9,25	6	1,5	1,02	0,48	0	0,0
47			Dang Duy Linh	VIE	2084	3,0	33,5	9,00	8	2	3,77	-1,77	0	0,0
48			Do Hoang Lam	VIE	0	3,0	33,0	9,25	9	3
49			Nguyen Van Toan Thanh	VIE	1813	3,0	32,5	8,50	9	3	1,52	1,48	0	0,0
50			Dang The Nam	VIE	2124	2,5	31,5	8,50	7	1	2,71	-1,71	0	0,0
51			Srivachirawat Kannapon	THA	2256	2,0	38,0	6,00	5	2	2,28	-0,28	0	0,0
52			Wiwatanadate Poompong	THA	1979	2,0	29,0	4,25	7	0,5	2,56	-2,06	0	0,0
53			Nguyen Huu Hoang Anh	VIE	2086	1,5	38,5	5,25	6	1,5	1,68	-0,18	0	0,0
54			Le Dinh Nguyen Anh	VIE	0	1,5	32,0	1,25	8	0,5