Zhang, Paragua and Sadikin Top ASEAN

As expected, Singaporean-registered grandmaster Zhang Zong and the Philippines' GM Mark Paragua topped their respective events in the 1st Leg ASEAN Circuit tournament in Indonesia. Both had 9 points. International master Irwanto Sadikin of Indonesia, also ending with 9 points, was the winner in the WIM section with 10 points.

Top finishers are as follows:

Grandmaster "A"
9.0 Zhang Zong
8.0 Tirto
7.5 Megaranto
7.0 Wesley So

Grandmaster "B"
9.0 Paragua
7.5 Nadanian, Gonzales
7.0 Nolte

WIM Tournament
10.0 Sadikin
8.5 Handoko
7.5 Chua

For complete details, visit www.indochess.com.

Our contact in PERCASI (Indonesian Chess Federation) tells us that six players scored norms from the event. RP's Rolando Nolte secured an IM norm, while Jayson Gonzales apparently also scored the GM version. That last is important news because it means that Jayson now has all three norms in the bag and all he has to do is reach a rating of 2500 to become a full GM! An outstanding result for Philippine chess.

EDIT: Final scores for the WIM section have been corrected as per advise from Sebastian Simanjuntak. Results for the last round were unintentionally omitted.