Wesley So places 5th in World Blitz qualifier

(Photos sourced from chessbase.com)

GM Wesley So brought Philippine chess to yet another milestone, this time finishing 5th in the World Blitz Championship 2011 qualifier in Moscow, Russia.

Qualifying for a world blitz championship, in a highly competitive field which saw the likes of Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Ponomariov, and Grischuk, is simply awesome.

Rate of play is G-3'+2" (3 minutes plus a two-second increment per move). Format is nine double-rounds. The top six would qualify for the final.

Five Filipino players joined this qualifier to test their wits in a huge field of 189 players!

Here are the final rankings of our Pinoy campaigners (highest possible score is 18 points):

GM Wesley So - 13 pts (5th)
IM Oliver Barbosa 10 pts (65th)
IM Richard Bitoon 10 pts (66th)
IM Oliver Dimakiling 9.0 pts (97th)
GM Darwin Laylo 7.5 pts (143rd)

GM John Paul Gomez was also in the list, but reportedly did not play.

Perhaps, Wesley is not tired with chess after all - a good sign. He might just have too much of blitz chess in his system that he gets "tired?" with the standard format, hmmmnn, I don't know.

I don't see anything wrong with blitz chess anyway. To become a world blitz champion is definitely a big thing!! Wesley might be toying with this idea in his head. And why not?

Go for it, Wesley!!

Top 6 finishers who qualified for the 2011 World Blitz Championship:

Place	SNo.	Title	Name		Fed.	FIDE	Total			Wins
1	3	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar		AZE	2772	14.5			7
2	4	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan		UKR	2744	14.0			7
3	18	GM	Andreikin, Dmitry		RUS	2689	13.5			6
4	14	GM	Tomashevsky, Evgeny		RUS	2695	13.5			6
5	23	GM	So, Wesley		PHI	2673	13.0			6
6	11	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita		RUS	2709	13.0			6

See the complete rankings HERE