TAGAYTAY City – Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So just settled for a draw against GM Cao Sang of Vietnam in the final round of the Asian Zone 3.3 Chess Championship Tuesday to earn a berth in this year’s World Chess Cup.
The 19-year-old So agreed to halve the point against Sang in just 30 moves of a Four Knights game to finish runner-up behind eventual champion Vietnamese GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son at the end of the nine-round Swiss System tournament at the Tagaytay International Convention Center.
But as the top two finishers in the week-long meet organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, both So and Nguyen are now bound for the World Chess Cup in Tromso, Norway.
The two will join another Filipino in GM Oliver Barbosa in the Norway meet.
The young Pinoy GM, who took a break from his studies at Webster University in the US just to compete here, finished with a total of seven points on five wins and four draws.
“OK lang naman na draw, tiniyak ko na kasi ang pag-pasok sa World Cup,” said So, who is set to see action next in the tough Reykjavic Open in Iceland.
Nguyen Truong finished with a total of 7.5 points after topping Filipino GM John Paul Gomez in his final assignment.
GM Joey Antonio and Indonesian counterpart Susanto Megaranto finished tied for third to fourth place with similar six points, while GM Mark Paragua round out the top five placers.
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