Tuesday, December 27, 2005

News from Asia

At the Asian Teams in Iran, the Vietnamese are once again showing their powers after completely dominating the 23rd SEA Games held recently in the Philippines.

After seven rounds, Vietnam is in the sole lead on 22 points. While India, another chess superpower on the rise, holds second spot on 21 points, after managing only a 3-1 win over Iran 'A'.

Meanwhile at the Singapore Masters International Open, Pinoy chessers are off to an excellent start. I suppose there is an extra bit of motivation here after that horrible gold medal shutout at the SEAG recently.

Somone to watch here is the 12-year old Wesley So. In the first round, he downed the 10th seed, WGM Zhao Xue of China.

Led by last year's champ, Paragua, the Filipinos are a 15-man strong delegation and is reportedly bankrolled by Congressman Prospero "Butch" Pichay. As we noted in this blog a few days ago, the congressman is expected to contest the presidency of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in elections next month. Incumbent head Go Teng Kok has already expressed opposition to Pichay citing Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino as his preferred replacement.

All I can say is, I hope that whoever becomes the next NCFP head won't treat the organisation like his own little kingdom. And you know, these politicians - especially the Filipino kind, well, you've just got to keep an extra eye on the bastards.

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