ShareThisMANILA — Ready and confident.
That’s how the Philippine men’s team, headed by GMs Wesley So and Eugene Torre, described itself on the eve of the formal opening of the 39th World Chess Olympiad and 81st FIDE Congress in Doha, Qatar.
Venue of the opening ceremony, as well as the tournament proper, is the Khanty-Mansiysk Sports Development Center, a 3,500-seater, 15,558-sq-meter wide center inaugurated only September last year.
Eugene Torre & Wesley So
First-round pairings have yet to be announced by the Khanty-Mansiysk organizing committee, although the 38th– seeded Filipinos are expected to meet one of the lower-rated countries in the 158-nation, two-week long championships.
“It’s a young but talented team. I think it’s even stronger than the one which represented the country in the Dresden Olympiad two years ago,” said National Chess federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay shortly before the team’s departure for Doha, Qatar via Qatar Airways last Sunday night.
“I like our chances in this Olympiad,” said Pichay, who openly predicted that the Filipinos will improve their 46th-place finish in the 38th Olympiad in Dresden, Germany in 2008.
From Doha, the team flew to Dubai where they joined other participants for a seven-hour chartered flight to Khanty-Mansiysk, the capital of this oil-producing autonomous Ugra region located in Western Siberia.
So, the country’s highest-rated player with an ELO of 2668, will play on top board, followed by GM John Paul Gomez (ELO 2527) on board two, GM Darwin Laylo (ELO 252) on board three and Torre (ELO 2489) on board four.
GM-candidate Richard Bitoon (ELO 2477), who took the place of GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. will be the reserve.
Antonio, the country’s second highest-rated player with an ELOof 2577, was dropped from the team following differences with the NCFP. Antonio has since reconciled with NCFP officials and even attended a luncheon tendered by Pichay for the members of the 10-man national team.
In Khanty-Mansiysk, the Filipinos will join close to 1,400 players from 158 countries in the prestigious 11-round competition considered as the “Olympics” of chess.
No less than Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will attend the colorful opening ceremony on September 20 at the Ugra Sports Complex.
Welcoming them are FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, head of the Republic of Kalmykia, and Natalia Komarova, the Governor of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.
The first round is scheduled on September 21, while the 11th and final round will be played on October 3.
Pichay and NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino will travel to Khanty-Mansiysk later next week.
Aside from the men’s men’s team, also seeing action is the women’s squad is made up of veteran campaigners Cheradee Chardine Camacho, Catherine Perena, Shercila Cua, Rulp Ylem Jose and Jedara Docena.
Accompanying the 10-man Filipino delegation are NCFP executive/events director Willie Abalos and coaches Atty. Edmundo Legaspi (men) and Cesar Caturla (women).
Armenia, one of several former Russian republics, will seek its third straight title in the men’s division.
The Armenians have won the last two Olympiads – Turin, Italy in 2006 and Dresden, Germany in 2008.
Ukraine, another former Russian republic, topped the event in Calvia in 2004.
Leading Armenia’s bid are GMs Levon Aronian (ELO 2783), Vladimir Akopian (ELO 2691) and Gabriel Sargissian (ELO 2677).
Russia, which dominated the event including a sequence of 13 times in a row from 1952 to 1976, is fielding three strong teams in its bid to regain supremacy.
GMs Vladimir Kramnik (ELO 2780), Alexander Grischuk (ELO 2760), Peter Svidler (ELO 2731) and Sergey Karjakin will banner the top-seeded Russian’s bid.
Russia-2 will be bannered by GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (ELO 2706) and Evgeny Alekseev (ELO 2691), while Russia-3 will be led by GMs Dmitry Jakovenko (ELO 2726) and Alexander Motylev.
Second seed Ukraine will rely on GMs Vassily Ivanchuk (ELO 2754) and Pavel Eljanov (ELO 2761), while third seed China will lean on GMs Wang Hao (ELO 2724), Wang Yue (ELO 2732) and Bu Xiangzhi (ELO2 695).
The other countries in the Top 10 are Hungary (GMs Peter Leko, Zoltan Almasi), Azerbaijan (GMs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Teimour Radjabov), Bulgaria (GMs Veselin Topalov, Ivan Cheparinov), United States (GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Gata Kasmky) and France (GMs Vladislav Tkachiev, Maxiem Vachier-Lagrave).
Asian powerhouses India, which is playing minus former world champion Viswanathan Anand, is seeded 17th.
Vietnam, which will be led by Gms Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truogn Son, is ranked 28th, 10 places higher than the Philippines, which is seeded 38th out of 158 countries.
In the women’s division, Georgia will defend the title it won in Dresden two years ago.
The Georgians will be challenged anew by China, winner in 2004, and Ukraine, topnotcher in 2006, Russia, however, is the top seed in the women’s division with a line-up built around women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and sisters Tatiana Kosintseva and Nadeshda Kosintseva.
Russia-2, USA, Armenia, India, Hungary and, Poland complete the women’s top 10 seeds.
The Philippines is seeded 50th in the women’s division which attracted 118 teams