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.
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