2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships

We must be thankful that Mt. Pinatubo isn't spewing its rage right now, or else, the start of the 2010 Asian Individual Chess Championships in Subic could be as eruptive as the off-the-board psychological warfare in the much publicized World Chess Championship between GM Vishy Anand of India and GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, which is being affected by an Icelandic volcanic eruption.

Poor Vishy Anand, his request for a three-day postponement of the match was turned down by the Bulgarian Chess Federation, the host of the event. Anand's reason for the postponement is his being stranded due to the volcanic eruption.

I guess the only acceptable reason for the host to postpone the match is if the event were to be held on top of the erupting volcano!

Based on reports, here are the leading campaigners in this major Asian event:
GM Le Quang Liem (2689)
GM Krishan Sasikiran (2686)
GM Ni Hua (2667)
GM Pentala Harikrishna (2660)
GM Wesley So (2665)
GM Zhou Jianchao (2650)
GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2642)
GM Li Chao (2613)
GM Zhang Zhong (2603)
GM Anton Fillipov (2598)
GM Susanto Megaranto (2527
GM and Dao Thien Hai (2523)
GM Khamrakulov Djubarek (2509)

I'm highly interested to see how our very own GM Wesley So perform in this event vis-a-vis the performance of Vietnam's GM Le Quang Liem. They are the two leading juniors in Southeast Asia right now, and are virtually racing to the be the first Southeast Asian to reach the 2700-Elo mark.

Liem only needs 11 more Elo points to make history. Our local needs 35 more. HOW I WANT THESE YOUNG WARRIORS MEET EACH OTHER ON THE BOARD IN THIS EVENT!!!

But wait, remember that Wesley suffered two losses in last year's Asian Individual Championship. One loss was in the hands of GM Yu Shaoteng and the other loss was against Liem. Last year, Wesley finished the event with 6.5 points, putting him at No.21 in the final rankings. On the other hand, Liem was better at No.5 with 7.5 points.

Can Wesley avenge his loss to Liem this time around?

Another interesting question: Is Vietnam destined to be the next chess powerhouse in Southeast Asia? We will see, we will see . . .

Let's review the final rankings in last year's Asian Individual Championships:

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	IND	2625	8,0	2546	2554
2	GM	Zhou Weiqi	CHN	2563	8,0	2505	2515
3		Yu Yangyi	CHN	2433	7,5	2575	2582
4	GM	Yu Shaoteng	CHN	2504	7,5	2570	2585
5	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2591	7,5	2545	2551
6	GM	Antonio Rogelio Jr	PHI	2518	7,5	2529	2544
7	GM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2590	7,5	2525	2535
8	GM	Zhou Jianchao	CHN	2635	7,5	2499	2506
9	GM	Sandipan Chanda	IND	2558	7,0	2577	2587
10	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2682	7,0	2528	2536
11	GM	Kunte Abhijit	IND	2513	7,0	2510	2526
12	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	IND	2570	7,0	2508	2514
13	GM	Negi Parimarjan	IND	2592	7,0	2494	2502
14	GM	Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2588	7,0	2490	2497
15	GM	Li Shilong	CHN	2557	7,0	2489	2498
16	GM	Kazhgaleyev Murtas	KAZ	2626	7,0	2474	2481
17	GM	Filippov Anton	UZB	2584	7,0	2471	2479
18	GM	Dao Thien Hai	VIE	2546	6,5	2553	2569
19		Wan Yunguo	CHN	2434	6,5	2536	2556
20	IM	Al Sayed Moh Mad N	QAT	2496	6,5	2535	2551
21	GM	So Wesley	PHI	2641	6,5	2520	2527
22	GM	Torre Eugenio	PHI	2561	6,5	2501	2511
23		Ding Liren	CHN	2458	6,0	2596	2604
24	GM	Rahman Ziaur	BAN	2523	6,0	2549	2558
25	GM	Iuldachev Saidali	UZB	2497	6,0	2548	2569
26	GM	Murshed Niaz	BAN	2407	6,0	2548	2554
27	IM	Toufighi Homayoon	IRI	2478	6,0	2547	2567
28	GM	Moradiabadi Elshan	IRI	2526	6,0	2543	2559
29	GM	Tu Hoang Thong	VIE	2506	6,0	2525	2543
30		Gao Rui	CHN	2500	6,0	2518	2532
31		Pak Evgeniy	KAZ	2328	6,0	2512	2524
32		Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan	MGL	2461	6,0	2504	2523
33	GM	Deepan Chakkravarthy J	IND	2482	6,0	2480	2497
34	GM	Laylo Darwin	PHI	2509	6,0	2477	2488
35	GM	Al-Modiahki Mohamad	QAT	2585	6,0	2464	2472
36	CM	Nguyen Van Huy	VIE	2423	6,0	2463	2483
37	GM	Ghaem Maghami Ehsan	IRI	2593	6,0	2458	2463
38	GM	Wang Rui	CHN	2434	6,0	2436	2446
39	GM	Megaranto Susanto	INA	2553	6,0	2434	2440
40		Xiu Deshun	CHN	2422	5,5	2554	2560
41	IM	Bitoon Richard	PHI	2479	5,5	2532	2549
42	IM	Harika Dronavalli	IND	2474	5,5	2521	2550
43	FM	Batchuluun Tsegmed	MGL	2391	5,5	2515	2521
44	FM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2441	5,5	2513	2530
45	GM	Mahjoob Morteza	IRI	2498	5,5	2495	2514
46	GM	Bui Vinh	VIE	2522	5,5	2474	2481
47	IM	Nolte Rolando	PHI	2479	5,5	2468	2486
48	GM	Nguyen Anh Dung	VIE	2518	5,5	2450	2462
49	GM	Hossain Enamul	BAN	2531	5,5	2447	2453
50	GM	Villamayor Buenaventura	PHI	2474	5,5	2396	2405
51	IM	Irwanto Sadikin	INA	2447	5,0	2544	2551
52	IM	Dimakiling Oliver	PHI	2426	5,0	2537	2544
53	GM	Gonzales Jayson	PHI	2465	5,0	2532	2548
54	IM	Ashwin Jayaram	IND	2413	5,0	2514	2534
55	IM	Sadorra Julio Catalino	PHI	2451	5,0	2511	2528
56	IM	Nguyen Thanh Son	VIE	2448	5,0	2508	2528
57	FM	Wahono Awam	INA	2391	5,0	2503	2513
58		Zhang Ziyang	CHN	2419	5,0	2478	2493
59	GM	Gomez John Paul	PHI	2538	5,0	2473	2480
60		Garma Edgardo	PHI	2421	5,0	2470	2485
61	GM	Paragua Mark	PHI	2529	5,0	2462	2471
62	IM	Akshayraj Kore	IND	2404	5,0	2437	2451
63	IM	Mas Hafizulhelmi	MAS	2425	5,0	2414	2429
64	GM	Kim Alexey	KOR	2481	5,0	2388	2396
65		Yang Kaiqi	CHN	2413	5,0	2384	2395
66		Wang Li	CHN	2401	4,5	2498	2506
67		Lou Yiping	CHN	2410	4,5	2481	2501
68	IM	Hassan Abdullah	UAE	2322	4,5	2479	2488
69	FM	Priyadharshan K	IND	2411	4,5	2462	2479
70		Garcia Jan Emmanuel	PHI	2292	4,5	2447	2452
71		Yu Lie	CHN	2307	4,5	2440	2444
72	FM	Novita Anjas	INA	2345	4,0	2484	2494
73	FM	Alhuwar Jasem	UAE	2293	4,0	2478	2485
74	FM	Abu Sufian Shakil	BAN	2378	4,0	2472	2477
75		Causo Deniel	PHI	2367	4,0	2458	2463
76	FM	Hoang Canh Huan	VIE	2378	4,0	2455	2469
77		Jia Haoxiang	CHN	2344	4,0	2451	2460
78		Pascua Haridas	PHI	2359	4,0	2450	2468
79	IM	Bancod Ronald	PHI	2356	4,0	2446	2450
80		Olay Edgar Reggie	PHI	2348	4,0	2423	2461
81	CM	Nguyen Hoang Nam	VIE	2281	4,0	2392	2426
82		Elorta David	PHI	2372	3,0	2494	2508
83	IM	Khamrakulov Dzhurabek	UZB	2524	3,0	2481	2490
84		Chua Aaron	MAS	2116	2,0	2400	2415
85		Celis Solomon B Iii	MAC	2007	1,0	2388	2401
86	GM	Dzhumaev Marat	UZB	2552	0,0	0	0