Ni Hua wins 9th Asian Individual Chess Championship, Wesley So takes second spot, 14 year old Garcia gets 2 IM norm.

Fresh from Subic Bay, Pampanga. Chinese GM Ni Hua just won the 9th Asian Individual Chess Championship. Hua settled to a draw against GM Abhijeet Gupta of India in the 9th and final round. Hua finished the tournament with 7.0 points and was undefeated with five wins and five draws capping up with performance rating of 2729. Erstwhile leader and darling of the tournament Wesley So, finished second over all with 6.5 points with four others but superior tie break points elevates him to the second spot. So has a performance rating of 2689, gaining 4.1 points to improve his unofficial rating to around 2669. His highest ever. So finished the tournament with 6.5 points.

Another impressive performance by a promising Filipino saw 14 year old FM Jan Emmanuel Garcia (2315). Garcia placed 17th over all with 5.5 points and has defeated two grandmasters, one International Master, likewise drawing four games with four more grandmasters he faced. He produced a 2573 rating performance, gaining a whopping 46.2 points. According to his father, if Jan Emmanuel scored 6.0 points, he'll automatically get a GM norm. More about Garcia's performance in this report by NM Marlon Bernardino.

14-YEAR-OLD BOY GAINS OUTRIGHT 2 IM TITLE NORM IN SUBIC CHESS

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

A day after getting his outright two (2) International Master norm, RP whiz kid Fide Master Jan Emmanuel Garcia (2315) defeated GM Saleh Salem (2483) in the ninth and final round at the conclusion of 9th Asian Individual Chess Championships at the Subic Exhibiton and Convention Center in Subic, Olongapo City yesterday.

Garcia prevailed with the advantageous white pieces after 40 moves of English Opening.

“Masayang-masaya po ako kasi nagbunga na din y’ung full support ng pamilya ko at ni cong. (Butch) Pichay sa chess career ko.” said the young Garcia, son of lawyer Florand and Elizabeth Garcia.

The 14-year-old incoming third year high school student of Ateneo de Manila University Garcia, dubbed as the next Wesley So in the Philippine chess tallied a total 5.5 points on account of 3 wins, 5 draws and a loss in nine outings of the week-long event, organized by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/ chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr.

“Maraming tayong magagaling na mga batang chess player, kailangan lamang nilang mabigyan ng break kaya nga marami tayong International chess tournament na i ioorganize,” said NCFP president/ chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr.

Actually, Jan Emmanuel fell short for his GM title norm aspiration but needed one IM norm to complete his IM title requirement.

“Kung naka 6 points si Jem (Jan Emmanuel) GM norm pa sana.” Said Jan Emmanuel’s father lawyer Florand Garcia.

“Counted sa 2 IM norm nakuha ni Jem kasi Asian Continental event ito,” he added.

Fondly called Jem in a local chess circuit, he opened his bid a draw against Asia’s First GM Eugene Torre in the 1^st round then upset Singaporean GM Zhang Zhong in the second round. A back-to-back draw against Vietnamese GM Tu Hoang Thong and Mongolian Bayarsaikhan in the 3^rd and 4^th round before yielding to Vietnamese IM Nguyen Huyn Minh Huy in the 5^th round.

But he came back after salvaging a draw over 1996 Asian junior champion Vietnamese GM Nguyen Anh Dung in the 6^th round then toppled compatriot IM Oliver Barbosa in the 7^th round.

A draw with countryman GM John Paul Gomez in the 8^th and penultimate round to clinch his outright two (2) IM norm before suprising GM Saleh Salem in the 9^th and final round yesterday.

Final Rankings after 9 rounds
Round 9 results

Rk.			Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1		GM	NI Hua	CHN	2667	7,0	2537	35,5	44,5
2		GM	SO Wesley	PHI	2665	6,5	2550	38,0	49,5
3		GM	GUPTA Abhijeet	IND	2560	6,5	2528	36,5	48,0
4		GM	ZHOU Jianchao	CHN	2650	6,5	2518	35,5	45,5
5		GM	LE Quang Liem	VIE	2689	6,5	2466	32,0	42,0
6		GM	YU Yangyi	CHN	2574	6,0	2573	40,5	51,5
7			ZENG Chongsheng	CHN	2350	6,0	2545	36,5	46,5
8		GM	DING Liren	CHN	2565	6,0	2539	37,5	48,0
9		GM	LI Chao B	CHN	2613	6,0	2524	38,0	47,5
10			WAN Yunguo	CHN	2424	6,0	2497	34,5	44,0
11		IM	SETHURAMAN S P	IND	2493	6,0	2490	33,5	42,5
12		GM	ZHOU Weiqi	CHN	2584	6,0	2446	31,0	39,5
13			YU Ruiyuan	CHN	2309	5,5	2572	39,0	50,5
14		FM	GOLIZADEH Asghar	IRI	2454	5,5	2536	36,5	44,5
15		GM	BAKRE Tejas	IND	2465	5,5	2536	35,5	44,0
16		GM	SASIKIRAN Krishnan	IND	2686	5,5	2515	35,5	46,5
17		FM	GARCIA Jan Emmanuel	PHI	2315	5,5	2498	32,5	42,0
18		GM	MEGARANTO Susanto	INA	2527	5,5	2492	38,0	48,5
19		GM	GHAEM MAGHAMI Ehsan	IRI	2575	5,5	2457	34,5	44,5
20		GM	NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2642	5,5	2443	33,0	43,0
21		GM	ANTONIO Rogelio Jr	PHI	2572	5,5	2440	33,5	44,0
22		IM	HARIKA Dronavalli	IND	2473	5,5	2436	30,5	39,0
23		GM	HARIKRISHNA P	IND	2660	5,5	2427	35,0	44,5
24			XIU Deshun	CHN	2493	5,5	2419	31,5	40,5
25		GM	ZHANG Zhong	SIN	2603	5,5	2400	33,5	42,5
26		IM	KHAMRAKULOV Dzhurabek	UZB	2509	5,5	2393	31,0	39,0
27		GM	WEN Yang	CHN	2520	5,5	2384	29,5	37,0
28		IM	NGUYEN Huynh Minh Huy	VIE	2469	5,0	2557	39,0	49,0
29			WANG Li	CHN	2383	5,0	2516	35,5	45,0
30		FM	BATTULGA Namkhai	MGL	2357	5,0	2516	34,0	43,5
31		IM	BARBOSA Oliver	PHI	2452	5,0	2509	37,0	44,0
32		GM	GEETHA Narayanan Gopal	IND	2604	5,0	2503	38,0	48,5
33		GM	NGUYEN Anh Dung	VIE	2464	5,0	2496	34,5	45,0
34		GM	SHARAVDORJ Dashzegve	MGL	2443	5,0	2484	33,5	40,5
35		GM	GOMEZ John Paul	PHI	2507	5,0	2481	34,0	44,0
36		IM	DIMAKILING Oliver	PHI	2441	5,0	2453	28,0	37,0
37		GM	LAYLO Darwin	PHI	2527	5,0	2442	33,5	43,0
38		GM	DAO Thien Hai	VIE	2523	5,0	2416	33,5	41,5
39		IM	ADHIBAN B	IND	2510	5,0	2404	32,0	41,0
40		GM	RAHMAN Ziaur	BAN	2558	5,0	2402	29,5	38,0
41		GM	BUI Vinh	VIE	2480	5,0	2378	29,5	38,5
42		GM	AL-SAYED Mohammed	QAT	2503	5,0	2364	26,0	34,5
43		IM	YANG Kaiqi	CHN	2396	4,5	2564	37,5	46,0
44		IM	NGUYEN Thanh Son	VIE	2440	4,5	2529	34,5	44,0
45		IM	NADERA Barlo A	PHI	2405	4,5	2525	34,5	43,5
46			GUNDAVAA Bayarsaikhan	MGL	2471	4,5	2514	36,0	45,5
47			DARINI Pouria	IRI	2398	4,5	2509	31,0	37,0
48			LU Shanglei	CHN	2340	4,5	2496	32,5	42,0
49		IM	GOH Weiming	SIN	2426	4,5	2486	32,5	41,5
50		IM	KUDERINOV Kirill	KAZ	2442	4,5	2483	31,0	40,5
51		IM	DABLEO Ronald	PHI	2464	4,5	2436	31,0	40,0
52		IM	TOUFIGHI Homayoon	IRI	2491	4,5	2435	32,0	41,5
53		IM	GAO Rui	CHN	2464	4,5	2422	31,5	41,0
54		GM	SALEM A R Saleh	UAE	2483	4,5	2390	31,5	41,5
55		IM	NOLTE Rolando	PHI	2420	4,0	2513	33,0	42,0
56		FM	CHAN Wei Xuan Timothy	SIN	2341	4,0	2504	30,5	39,0
57		FM	PASCUA Haridas	PHI	2358	4,0	2495	32,0	41,5
58		GM	NEELOTPAL Das	IND	2445	4,0	2485	34,0	43,0
59		IM	DUONG The Anh	VIE	2425	4,0	2474	29,5	36,5
60			WANG Chen	CHN	2390	4,0	2472	34,5	43,0
61		FM	HABLA Jony	PHI	2316	4,0	2472	32,5	39,0
62		FM	SEGARRA Randy	PHI	2298	4,0	2457	31,0	39,5
63		GM	TU Hoang Thong	VIE	2483	4,0	2419	32,0	41,5
64		FM	ALHUWAR Jasem	UAE	2308	4,0	2407	25,5	33,5
65			MARIANO Nelson Iii	PHI	2118	4,0	2399	25,0	32,5
66		GM	TORRE Eugenio	PHI	2506	4,0	2378	31,0	39,5
67		IM	GINTING Nasib	INA	2397	4,0	2366	27,0	35,0
68			LOU Yiping	CHN	2429	3,5	2549	35,0	44,0
69		WIM	PADMINI Rout	IND	2319	3,5	2439	30,0	38,0
70		IM	BITOON Richard	PHI	2476	3,5	2421	32,0	41,5
71		GM	SUNDARARAJAN Kidambi	IND	2520	3,5	2405	27,0	34,5
72			LI Hanbin	CHN	2330	3,5	2377	28,0	35,5
73			DATU Alcon John	PHI	2220	3,5	2376	24,5	31,0
74			LUMANCAS Lyndon	PHI	2289	3,5	2370	24,5	31,0
75			OLAY Edgar Reggie	PHI	2304	3,5	2348	27,5	35,0
76			CAUSO Deniel	PHI	2302	3,5	2135	22,0	28,0
77			MACALA Allan	PHI	2283	3,0	2524	36,0	45,5
78			SENADOR Emmanuel	PHI	2401	3,0	2495	34,0	43,0
79			FLORENDO Paulo James	PHI	2262	3,0	2448	30,5	38,0
80		FM	YEE Soon Wei	BRU	2209	3,0	2448	27,5	35,5
81			TURQUEZA Mari Joseph	PHI	2087	3,0	2358	26,5	35,0
82		FM	DE RAMOS Julius	PHI	2314	3,0	2355	27,0	34,5
83			GALINDO Joseph	PHI	0	3,0	2206	24,5	30,0
84			PAULO Bersamina	PHI	1927	2,5	2190	24,0	30,0
85		IM	WOHL Aleksandar H	AUS	2441	2,5	2168	24,0	31,5
86			LEGASPI Rhobel	PHI	2314	2,0	2436	29,5	38,5
87			LU Yijie	CHN	2349	2,0	2344	24,0	30,0
88			GALVAN Jesus	PHI	0	2,0	2201	24,0	29,5
89			DE LEON Luke Matthew	PHI	0	1,0	2034	18,0	23,5
90			ABELGAS Roel	PHI	2170	0,0	0	31,5	40,5