The Philippines top 20 players (click image to enlarge)
Though Wesley So had some disappointing results in the past three months, we won't see Wesley being toppled as the top player of the Philippines for many years to come. Not within ten years time at least. The latest July RP-Fide rating list release yesterday by the World Chess Federation shows Wesley So gained 5 points from his previous FIDE rating of 2641 in April to 2646 in July. Wesley So however remains among the top 100 players in the world, placing him at no. 92, dropping from his previous place at no. 87. So is also rank no.7 among junior players today.
Another interesting development is GM elect IM Rogelio Barcenilla, now RP's no.4 rank player with rating of 2518. But the great thing is, he is back in the RP list of Filipinos based abroad representing their native country! Welcome home Banjo. Barcenilla is expected to finally received the GM title in the next FIDE congress.
Also former US Open co-champ and FM Paolo del Mundo is also back in the RP list. He is rank no. 38 with FIDE rating of 2331.
Behind Wesley So, it's Torre who remains second best with 2560, Antonio is third with 2559, gaining a whopping 41 points! and then of course IM Barcenilla at 4th spot. Yup. The "Old Guard" of Philippine chess still occupies no. 2,3 and 4th spot respectively behind So. Impressive. GM Jayson Gonzales and GM Bong Villamayor dropped out from the top ten at number 12 and 16.
GM Nelson Mariano II and IM Enrico Sevillano is still representing Singapore and US to be included in the RP-FIDE list.
Also IM Julio Catalino Sadorra and IM Richard Bitoon, finally saw themselves barges into top ten in the national rankings perhaps for the first time in their chess career (please correct me if I'm wrong). Bitoon is occupying the no.6 spot with FIDE rating of 2495 while Sadorra is in the tenth spot with FIDE rating of 2468.
Overall, the Philippines is rank no. 34 in the world ranking with an average (top ten players) of 2523.
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2 comments:
Correction....
IM Richard Bitoon had been on this spot several times already in the past though he lost track when victimized by the dirty politics in chess way back late 90's!
Hey, thanks for the correction! I appreciate it.
-Catolos
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