HOST Tagaytay is expected to contend for top honors when the Asian Cities Chess Team Championships-Dubai Cup starts on Sunday at the Tagaytay International Convention Center.
Fifteen foreign cities, led by Shanghai, will also bid for the top purse of $3,000 in the 9-round Swiss System event made possible through Cong. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, the Fide Asian Zone 3.3 president.
Powered by GM Zhou Jianchao, Shanghai will be arriving today along with 13 other teams.
Already in town are the teams from Baghdad, Iraq, and Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Completing the field are the teams from Wuxi, China, led by GM Wei Yi; Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), led by GM Gundavaa Bayarsaikhan; Baghdad (Iraq), Sharjaj (UAE), Shah Alam (Malaysia), Erdenet (Mongolia), Kuwait, BS Begawan (Brunei), Singapore, Seoul (South Korea), Dubai (UAE), Taipei (Taiwan) and Sri Lanka.
Tolentino said the Tagaytay city council headed by his wife and mayor, Dr. Agnes Tolentino, made sure that the delegates will have a pleasant stay in the scenic and breezy city.
Even without the country’s top player, GM Wesley So, Tagaytay will be ably represented in the event sanctioned by the International Chess Federation (Fide).
An all-GM team composed of Oliver Barbosa, Mark Paragua, John Paul Gomez and Darwin Laylo will make up the first team with the fifth player yet to be named, according to National Chess Federation of the Philippines executive director GM Jayson Gonzales. Comprising the second team are GMs Joey Antonio and Eugene Torre, IMs Rolando Nolte and Jan Emmanuel Garcia and a yet to be named fifth player.