Asian Continental Chess Championship
Xingtai, China
June 7-15, 2019
Final Top Standings
1. GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2694, 7.0/9
2-5. GM Murali Karthikeyan IND 2593, GM SP Sethuraman IND 2613, GM SL Narayanan IND 2603, GM Rinat Jumabayev KAZ 2625, 6.5/9
6-11. GM Alireza Firouzja IRI 2682, GM Abhijeet Gupta IND 2606, GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi IND 2707, GM Lu Shanglei CHN 2624, GM Lalith Babu MR IND 2571, GM Nihal Sarin IND 2606, 6.0/9
12-19 GM NR Vignesh IND 2459, GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr IND 2598, GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong son VIE 2639, GM Arjun Ergasi IND 2526, GM Baskaran Adhiban IND 2676, GM Sandipan Chanda IND 2511, IM Dai Changren CHN 2480, GM Deep Sengupta IND 2559, 5.5/9
No. of Participants: 74
Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move from move 1
Trivia Question: How many Filipinos have won the Asian Chess Championship?
Answer: none.
The Championship started in 1998 and became an annual event. From then up to now there have been eight champions from China (Xu Jun, Zhang Zhong, Zhang Pengxiang, Ni Hua, Li Chao, Yu Yangyi, Wang Hao and Wei Yi), five Indians (Krishnan Sasikiran, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Penteala Harikirshna, Parimarjan Negi and SP Sethuraman), one Uzbek (Rustam Kasimdzhanov), one Vietnamese (Le Quang Liem) and even one from the United Arab Emirates (Salem AR Saleh), but never a Filipino.
Another Trivia Question: How many Filipinos have ever qualified for the Chess World Cup from the Asian Continental Championship?
Answer: Two. GM Darwin Laylo finished in 7th place in the 2007 Asian Chess Championship (rule at that time was that Top 10 qualify), Cebu and earned a place in the 2007 World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. Seeded 113th out of 128 participants, Laylo was eliminated in the first round, 1½–½, by the French grandmaster Étienne Bacrot.
Wesley So was second to Chinese GM Ni Hua in the 2010 Asian Championship held in Subic Bay and qualified for the 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk World Cup. He defeated Ding Liren in the first round of the Cup but was eliminated by Sergey Karjakin in round 2.
Mark Paragua has represented the Philippines in the World Cup in 2004, 2006 and 2011, but in all three cases he qualified through the Zonal Competitions, and not through the Continental Championship.
As you can see from the above, the Philippines’ has not had an impressive record in the Asian Championships. I am afraid this year was no different. We sent six players and none of them figured in the fight for the top places:
Grandmaster (GM) Eugene Torre, finished with 4/9 points in 59th place out of 74 participants
Grandmaster John Paul Gomez, also scored 4/9 points tiebreaks put him at 51st place
GM Darwin Laylo, scored 5/9 and finished in 27th place.
IM Paulo Bersamina, 4.5/9, in the 42nd place
IM Jan Emmanuel Garcia, 4.5/9, 38th place
IM Daniel Quizon, 3.5/9, 63rd place
The opposition no doubt was tough. For example, 70th place (out of 74 players) was Nguyen Duc Hoa, a tough GM from Vietnam. This is not an open tournament, all of the participants are among the best players of their countries. What do we have to do to get an extra edge on our opposition? First, let us look at some of the games of our representatives.
Laylo, Darwin (2433) — Tran, Tuan Minh (2526) [E12]
Asian Continental Open and Women’s Cham Xingtai, China (5.20), 11.06.2019
There is a Vietnamese-owned hotel in Budapest whose owner is also a chessplayer and it is due to his good graces that a lot of Vietnam players get to stay in that city at an affordable rate and participate in the chess scene there. GM Tran Tuan Minh is one of those who benefited from this arrangement. Only 21 years old he has risen quickly and became the 2017 Champion of Vietnam.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Nf3
Usually this knight goes to b3 but there is really nothing wrong with putting it on f3.
9…Nc6 10.Bg5
The usual follow-up to the previous move is to push the b-pawn. 10.b4 Nd4 11.Qd2 Nxf3+ 12.gxf3 Be7 with equal chances although I think it is easier to play for White.
10…Qc7 11.Rd1 a6 12.Be2 Ng4 13.Bh4 f6 14.Bg3 Nge5 15.b4 Bd6 16.Nd4
Darwin’s first threat appears: 17.Ndb5! axb5 18.Nxb5 and the bishop on d6 falls.
16…Nxd4 17.Rxd4 0–0?
Careless. Now the pressure on the d-file will win at least a pawn.
18.Qd2 Be7 19.f4 Ng6 20.Rxd7 Qc6 21.0–0 Rfd8 22.Rd1 a5 23.b5 Rxd7 24.Qxd7 Qxd7 25.Rxd7 Bc8 26.Rd3 a4 27.Bd1 Bb7 28.f5 Bc5+ 29.Kf1 Ne5 30.Bxe5 fxe5 31.fxe6 Bd4 32.Nd5 Re8 33.Bg4 Bc8 <D>
POSITION AFTER 33…BC8
Black was counting on this move to win back the pawn. However …
34.Bh5! Rxe6 35.Bg4 1–0
Black loses a piece: 35.Bg4 Re8 36.Bxc8 Rxc8 37.Ne7+
Garcia, Jan Emmanuel (2413) — Vishnu, Prasanna. V (2511) [A14]
Asian Continental Open and Women’s Cham Xingtai, China (7.19), 13.06.2019
On 5th June 2017, Vishnu Prasanna married WIM Raghavi N. and together they are the strongest chess couple of India surpassing Sriram Jha and S. Vijayalakshmi. Aside from being a strong grandmaster and openings expert Vishnu is also a chess coach and seconded Baskaran Adhiban during his ground-breaking performance in the Tata Steel Masters 2017.
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0–0 Be7 5.c4 0–0 6.b3 b6 7.Bb2 Bb7 8.e3 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Re8 10.Qe2 a6 11.Rfd1 Bd6 12.d4 Qe7 13.Rac1 dxc4 14.bxc4 c5 15.d5!
Borrowing an idea from the Polugaevsky line of the Nimzo-Indian, i.e., d4–d5 followed by Nh4.
15…exd5 16.Nh4 g6 17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.Bxd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5
Trying to double his rooks on the d-file.
19…Nf6 20.Nf5! Nxd5
[20…gxf5 21.Rxf5 the knight can’t move because of Qg4+, but this is even worse]
21.Nxe7+ Nxe7 22.Qf3 f5 23.Rd1 Rad8 24.Qb7 Kf7 25.Qxb6 Rb8 26.Qxd6 Rxb2 27.Qxa6 Reb8 28.Rd7 R8b6 29.Qa7 Re6 30.Qa3 Rb4 31.Rc7 Rxc4 32.Rxc5 Rce4 33.Qb3 g5 34.Rb5 g4 35.Rb6 Kf6 36.Rxe6+ Rxe6 37.a4 Nc6 38.Qc3+ Ne5 39.a5 Rc6 40.Qa3 Ra6 41.Qf8+ Nf7 42.Qb8 Nd6 43.Kg2 h5 44.Qh8+ Ke6 45.Qg8+ Ke5 46.Qg7+ Kd5 47.Qd4+ Kc6 48.Qe5 Nb7 49.Qc3+ Nc5 50.Qf6+ Kb5 51.Qxf5 Rxa5 52.Qxh5 Ra4 53.h3 gxh3+ 54.Kxh3 Kc6 55.Qe8+ Kd6 56.g4 Nd7 57.Qg6+ Ke7 58.Qh7+ Ke8 59.g5 1–0
Torre, Eugenio (2467) — Nguyen, Duc Hoa (2406) [E44]
Asian Continental Open and Women’s Cham Xingtai, China (6.27), 12.06.2019
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Bb7 6.a3 Bd6 7.d5 c6 8.g3 b5 9.Bg2 bxc4 10.dxe6 dxe6 11.0–0 0–0 12.Nd4 Qe7 13.Qe2 c5 14.Nf3 Nbd7 15.Nd2 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Nb6 17.Nxc4 Nxc4 18.Qxc4 Rab8 19.Rb1 Qb7+ 20.f3 Qb3 21.Qe2 c4 22.Bd2 Rfd8 23.Rfc1 Be5 24.f4 Bxc3 25.Bxc3 Rd3
Hoping to get in …Ne4.
26.e4 Rbd8 27.Re1 Ne8 28.Rbc1 f6?
[28…h6]
29.Qg4 Qb6 30.Re2 Qc6 31.Rce1 R8d7 32.h4 f5 33.Qh5 Nd6 34.Kh2 g6
He can’t take the pawn:
34…Nxe4?? 35.Qe8#;
34…fxe4 35.Rxe4 and once again the knight cannot take on e4 because of Qe8 mate.
35.Qg5 Nxe4 36.Rxe4 fxe4 37.Qe5
Oops. The mating threats on the long diagonal guarantee Eugene at least a draw.
37…Qd5?
Destroying the powerful bishop on c3 with 37…Rxc3 is the only move.
38.Qh8+ Kf7 39.Qxh7+ Ke8 40.Qxg6+ Kd8 41.Rxe4 Rd6 42.h5 Rf3 43.h6 Qd1
Black needs just one tempo — 44…Rf2+ 45.Kh3 Qh1+ 46.Kg4 Qf3+ forces the draw.
44.Qg8+ Ke7 45.Bf6+! Kd7
[45…Kxf6 46.Qg7+ Kf5 47.Re5#]
46.Qd8+ Kc6 47.Rxc4+ Kd5 48.Rd4+ Qxd4 1–0
[48…Qxd4 49.Qa8+ Kc4 50.Bxd4 Rd3 (50…Rxd4 51.Qxf3) 51.Be5 White has an easy win]
As you can see, our players are not lacking in ability. It is clear to me that what we need is training to hone them to peak form.
Back in 1999 the Philippine Chess society was born, led by sportsmen like Jerry Acuzar and Horace Templo, with the purpose of training our players before they represent our country either locally or abroad.
The usual stuff you hear from the player that “you just give me the training allowance and I will train by myself at home” is a surefire formula for failure. Players have to be physically prepared and have joint training sessions coupled with opening preparation. The Chess Society sponsored this training and the seeding of the players, for example their board order in the olympiads or other team competitions, is dependent on how well they do in the training sessions.
I think we need such a program again.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
