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Post by cjeagle on Sept 9, 2012 19:50:59 GMT 8
Unfortunately we lost to Romania 1-3. It seems our lack of depth and rotation has resulted in a deterioration in their performance in the last few rounds. We are still going to have a better performance than the last time but we are now out of the top ten.
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Post by benzgm on Sept 10, 2012 10:51:54 GMT 8
we finished at 21st... still a respectable, if not good, result for our team ranked 35th coming into the competition.
Agree about the deterioration of their performance, add to that our playing against tougher opponents. still, happy I'm with the results.
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Post by jimsar on Sept 12, 2012 2:16:44 GMT 8
... NM Glenn Bordanada is still pretty active in the pinoy chess forums and in the US chess scene. I am not sure but believed I met him awhile ago when I competed in a Chicago chess tournament when I was still an active player. Obviously I played in one of the non master group categories while he was competing in the Open category for masters but Filipinos tend to congregate in this type of tournaments and i believed we met. He was helping Wesley So train here when Wesley visited the US last time I encountered him on the forums. He can always be depended upon to make a thorough and incisive analysis of a game when one of our players is playing. Not sure if any of our players are in the running for an individual medal, but I doubt it, as you normally need to win most of your games if you want to be considered for one and none of them seem to have done that. The strength of this team is in its team play where one player would pick up for another and not on brilliant individual performance even though it is still impressive that Wesley So has been able to hold the fort at board 1 against all those hydra GMs he was facing and remaining unbeaten so far. I am not sure if any other player won the Gold in the past except for Glenn. Glenn is an upstanding individual, one of the true "good guys". One of his quotes that I'll never forget is "Don't let your education interfere with your chess". That was in reference to my missing a chess match because I had an exam. Narra Residence Hall had a pretty strong chess team during that era. One of the more famous members was Heber Bartolome of Banyuhay fame. Glenn told me a couple of years ago that Heber still visits him from time to time for casual games. Back then Glenn and I were evenly matched with a 5 minutes to 1 handicap playing blitz. At 25 centavos per game, we had many binges that lasted to the wee hours. Fond memories! cjeagle: I too, played competitively in the US, but only for a brief period of 2 1/2 years. My highest rating was 2020, but it went down to 1898 after a few bad results. (I just checked the USCF website, 1898 still stands.) Then I completely stopped, cold turkey. The reason? "Fresh off the boat" with pressures of raising a young family. My wife never got used to tournaments that started Fridays and ended Sunday afternoons. I remember one time I told her I'd be a master in 2 years, she responded with "divorced master". That pretty much sealed the deal. And finding my framed "Candidate Master" certificate in the junk pile one day.
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Post by cjeagle on Sept 12, 2012 4:30:36 GMT 8
jimsar,
Nice rejoinder by your wife. ;D No wonder you had to give it up. Same story here. Between chess, soccer and ice hockey I had to give up a lot of my interests when I went to grad school as well as later on when I was raising a family. I was around 1900 pushing to surpass 2000 USCF rating when I decided to quit. I am just a patzer nowadays.
BTW, if you want to contact Glenn, you might want to post on his page on chessgames.com or on Wesley So's page where most Filipinos congregate.
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Post by cjeagle on Feb 27, 2013 5:44:54 GMT 8
GM Wesley So finally broke through the 2700 barrier today in the Reyjavik Open, with a live rating of 2701.4 making him the 51st highest ranked chess player in the world at the moment. www.2700chess.com/Interestingly enough he achieved the feat via a queen sacrifice, that gave him an opportunity to weave a mating net against his opponent's king. Way to go Wesley. Here is his coach GM Susan Polgar's comments after he achieved his rating today on chessgames.com: Susan Polgar: Hard work has paid off so far. I can't get new chess books fast enough for Wesley and Ray. They basically read everything I get for the SPICE chess library Wesley sets one goal at a time and so far has achieved all of them. He also worked very hard to improve on his weaknesses and mental toughness. I believe the loss against Vachier-Lagrave at the SPICE Cup helped him get over the hump. It was painful but served as a great lesson. Congrats to the Philippines for producing the 1st ever 2700 player! Susan Polgar: BTW, not only Wesley became the 1st Filipino to achieve a 2700+ rating, he is also the 1st American collegiate player to achieve this feat. It is a double achievement.
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Post by cjeagle on Aug 13, 2013 4:36:35 GMT 8
Wesley So hurdles the first round of the FIDE World Chess Cup against World Junior Champion Ipatov today in a hopefully successful quest to make the World Candidates Matches that will determine the World Chess Champion in the current cycle.
He is also coming of a strong tournament last month when he won the gold medal at the World Universiade Games in Kazan, the first Filipino to do so.
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 28, 2013 1:24:16 GMT 8
Wesley wins the 17th Unive Crown Tournament in the Netherlands, over Britain's top player Michael Adams(currently rated 2753 by FIDE), raising his live FIDE ratings to 2719.2 which ranks him 32nd in the world. Unfortunately I have heard he has a falling out with the NCFP, which is withholding his winnings and incentives. Hopefully this doesn't force him to change affiliation to Canada where his family now lives or to the USA where he studies. A similar situation forced our best women's player to change affiliation to Australia, after being neglected and disrespected by the PCF, the predecessor to the NCFP awhile ago. That would be a disaster, as Wesley at the age of 20, and still with years of experience ahead of him, has the potential to be a world champion. philboxing.com/news/story-88460.htmlHis recent strong play is particularly impressive, since he is also a full time student in Webster Univ in Missouri, USA, unlike his professional chess peers who devote all their time to preparing for chess tournaments.
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Post by cjeagle on Oct 29, 2013 7:37:09 GMT 8
The US team(Nakamura, Kamsky, Onischuk, Robson, and Akobian) has apparently named Wesley So as coach in an upcoming tournament, the World Team Chess Championship in Turkey. I think this is a ploy for them to recruit him to the US team. I beleive if the NCFP don't mend matters with Wesley So soon, the Philippines will lose him permanently to another federation. He would be the 2nd highest rated player in the US team if he defects.
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 12, 2014 5:16:11 GMT 8
Wesley So won the first game of the Tata Wijk Aan Zee Category 10 tournament today in the Netherlands. This is the strongest tournament he has ever participated in with most of the players above 2700. He is now 21st overall in the live world rankings at 2733 with the potential to rise even further.
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 13, 2014 2:37:41 GMT 8
Wesley So drew the 2nd game against World # 3 Nakamura, in a slightly better position, to keep his place in the top spot at 1.5 pts. He says he was still the feeling the effects of the jet lag from the harrowing day long flight on his way there because of flight delays and cancellations due to weather issues in the midwest USA, where he barely made it on time. They literally had to delay his game one hour for the first game and he still won it anyways. He is now up to 20 in the World Live ratings.
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 14, 2014 1:59:20 GMT 8
Another draw by Wes while playing black, in the 3rd round against German GM Naiditsch giving him a total of 2.0 points and a share of top spot in the Wijk aan Zee tournament, with still a few games remaining in this round. He has played the top player of Hungary, the US and Germany and has held his own so far. Rest day tomorrow before commencing on Wednesday.
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 16, 2014 12:27:51 GMT 8
Wesley maintained his unbeaten record in Round 4, achieving a draw against Netherland's # 1 Anish Giri. He is tied at 2nd place with 2.5 points, in the tournament behind sole leader World ranked # 2 Aronian.
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 18, 2014 1:33:21 GMT 8
Wesley So won his round 5 game today against former World Chess Championship challenger and current Israeli #1 and World top ten Boris Gelfand, giving him temporary hold of the tournament lead at 3.5 points pending upon the results of the other games. He now has a live rating of 2740.3 which brings him to #16 in the world, well on his way to reaching his goal of 2750 this year 2014.
Update. World ranked # 2 player Aronian has retaken the lead at 4 points with Wesley at sole 2nd. The two will be facing each other tomorrow with Wesley playing black(slight disadvantage).
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 19, 2014 0:11:23 GMT 8
As expected, Wesley lost his Rd. 6 game against World # 2 ranked player Aronian today who has been dominating this tournament so far. No shame in this loss against such a strong player. Wesley still has chances of finishing high in this very strong tournament if he does well in his remaining games. World # 10th ranked Karjakin up next.
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Post by cjeagle on Jan 20, 2014 1:02:55 GMT 8
Wesley had a fighting draw(had some winning chances while playing black) against Top ten ranked Karjakin today for a total of 4 points(2w 4d 1l) and is currently tied for 4th with 4 rounds to go. He rebounded quite well from the loss to Aronian yesterday and has showed so far that he belongs among some elite company. Pending the results of the remaining last 4 rounds, we should expect more invitations to tournaments of this caliber and at only 20 years of age, has the potential to be among the few that can challenge for the world chess title. Unfortunately this also increases the chances of the US trying to recruit him for their team.
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