Wesley, Joey split first two chess matches

GUANGZHOU—Grandmasters Wesley  So and Rogelio Antonio Jr. split  their  first two  assignments in a modest start in the 16th Asian Games rapid chess competition here.  So,  the  17-year-old  Filipino  champion,  vented his ire on fellow Khanty-Mansiysk  Olympiad  veteran   Sanghoon   Lee  of South Korea in the second round, after losing to Fide Master Samir   Mohammad  (Elo 2361) of   Syria  in  a  rare first-round early Saturday.

Antonio, the  country’ second highest-rated  player  with  an  Elo of 2579,  also had a similar result in the first two rounds of the 46-player competition. The multititled  campaigner from   Calapan, Oriental  Mindoro, who  regained his spot  in the  national  team   after  ironing out his  differences with  the  local  chess  federation, opened  his campaign  with a  convincing win over untitled Basel Alshoba of Jordan but bowed to top  seed GM  Le  Quang  Liem   (Elo  2689)  of Vietnam. The split left the two highly rated  Filipino players in a big group occupying 15th to 33rd places with a point each. So was scheduled to take on GM Handszar  Odeev  (Elo  2405)  of Turkmenistan while Antonio was to clash with Abdullah Hassan  (Elo 2398) of United Arab Emirates. Le and  compatriot  GM Nguyen  Ngoc Truong  Son and six  other  players  share the  early  lead with  perfect scores  of two  points. Le also subdued IM Zendan Al-Zendai of Yemen in the first round. Truong Son, seeded eighth with an Elo of 2628, trounced Semetey Tologontegin of Krygystan and GM Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh to share the early lead.