Wesley So, Eugene Torre head RP team for Chess Olympiad

MANILA, Philippines – Teenage grandmaster (GM) Wesley So and Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre will head a young Philippine chess team to the 39th World Chess Olympiad at the Complex "Arena Ugra" of Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

Joining So and Torre are GMs Darwin Laylo, John Paul Gomez and International Master (IM) Richard Bitoon, who is seeking his third and final GM norm.

"It’s a young but talented team led by the country’s top player (So) and most-experienced player (Torre). We’re confident we will do well in this tournament," said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president-chairman Prospero "Butch" Pichay.

"With Wesley playing his best games so far and Eugene providing the much-needed leadership in the team, the Filipinos are capable of surpassing our 46th-place finish in Germany two years ago," added Pichay.

The Chess Olympiad starts on Tuesday.

Wesley So

The Philippine team will have Team Korea as its first assignment.

So, Gomez, Laylo and Bitoon will face Koreans Lee Sanghoon, Lee Kiyul, Chogdov Munkhbat and Jung Young Moon.

The women’s squad, meanwhile, 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 Willie Abalos and coaches Atty. Edmundo Legaspi (men's team) and former Olympian NM Cesar Caturla (women's team).

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 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 Nepomniatchi (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 Philippines 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.

The Philippines is seeded 50th in the women’s division. – By Marlon Bernardino