Asian vs Asian

(IN PHOTO: GM So and GM Nguyen)

GM Wesley So will surely be in for a tough game in Round 3 of Aeroflot Open 2010 against GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam.

If you think Wesley could easily extract a full point from Nguyen, well, think again.

As I see it, the Nguyen-So game in Round 3 promises to be a good macth-up. In the first place, both could not get the GM title at the age of 14 years old for nothing, though Wesley earned it nine months younger. Wesley earned his full GM title one month after his 14th birthday. Nguyen got his at the age of 14 years and 10 months.

Just like Wesley, Nguyen was a former Numero Uno in Vietnam (now No.2 after GM Le Quang Liem). This 20-year old warrior from Vietnam has that pride, too.

Based on available data, Wesley and Nguyen had already met each other twice over the board. Neither of them extracted a full point yet from each other. Their match card stands at +0-0=2.

Let's watch the two previous encounters between So and Nguyen:
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Just like Wesley, Nguyen is now playing with his highest achieved Elo rating of 2616. After languishing for five years since 2004 at the 2500-mark, Nguyen finally broke the 2600-mark in November last year. Both are in the upswing of their career.

Just like Wesley, Nguyen had fought - and won - against world-class players with the likes of GM Loek Van Wely and GM Viktor Bologan. Oh yes, Nguyen is used to play against strong players.

Watch Nguyen's strong games against Van Wely and Bologan:
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Interestingly, they have opponents in common namely, GM Vassily Ivanchuk and GM Vladimir Malakhov. Nguyen drew with these two.

Nguyen's games against Ivanchuk and Malakhov:
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If there's a Filipino player who could give an advice to Wesley on how to beat Nguyen, then it would be GM Joey Antonio who defeated Nguyen at the 8th Asian Continental Chess Championship in Subic last year.

Let's watch that game:
Ngoc Truongson Nguyen vs Rogelio Antonio Jr
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May the better Asian win!