Missed fun

The No.1 Chinese player versus the No.1 Filipino chess player will not happen.

Arggg!!!

It was previously hinted that GM Wesley So (2641) would battle GM Wang Yue (2738) in the fourth round of the ongoing China Chess League.

But no, the excitement was readily frozen even before the two Asian chess giants collide. Instead, GM So will face untitled Xu Hanbing of Team Tianjin.

Based on board pairings in chess-results.com, GM Wang will man Board 4 for Tianjin and GM So will handle Board 1 for Team Bank of Qingdao.

What a disappointment. (I hope chess-results erred.)

If I were the organizer of this event, I would pit the two No.1s on Board 1 to spice up the tournament.

Were the board pairings a team strategy? Probably. Perhaps, the Chinese are more fond of scores than of entertaining the fans.

OK, let them bore themselves to death with the team points. But they surely killed a pure entertainment.