CHESS-17th Asian Continental Chess Championships (2nd Manny Pacquiao Cup): MANILA- Pacquiao to open 17th Asian chess

Senator Manny Pacquiao and National Chess Federation of the Philippines president and chairman Butch Pichay will usher in the 17th Asian Continental Chess Championships (2nd Manny Pacquiao Cup) starting today at the Tiara Hotel in Makati City.

Pacquiao, who helped fund the event, and Pichay will do the ceremonial move in the opening ceremony starting at 2:45 p.m. in this nine-round tournament staking slots to the men’s and women’s World Cup.

Tournament director Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales said the first-round pairings will be drawn an hour before the inaugural.Indian Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi joined the mix of the chessers to watch out for after he entered in the last minute.

The 24-year-old Vidit is seeded third with a FIDE rating of 2702 behind Chinese GMs Wang Hao and Wei Yi, who have a rating of 2730 and 2728, respectively, and the three should pose the biggest challenge to the Filipinos’ bid to win this event.GMs John Paul Gomez, Darwin Laylo and Joey Antonio will spearhead the country’s campaign in the men’s side while WGM Janelle Mae Frayna is the host’s best bet in the women’s section.

Other notable Filipinos joining are IMs Jan Emmanuel Garcia, Haridas Pascua and Paulo Bersamina in this nine-round tournament sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and financed by Sen. Manny Pacquiao and the Phl Sports Commission.Iranian GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2689),

Indians GM Baskaran Adhiban (2682) and GM S. P. Sethuraman (2664) and Chinese GM Ni Hua (2683) are the other higher-ranked foreign participants joining.An outright GM title and norms will be given automatically to the champion and a purse of $10,000.China’s WGM Guo Qi and WGM Wang Jue and India’s WGM Padmini Ruot are the top three women’s seeds.

The top five finishers in the men’s side will gain spots to the World Chess Cup 2019 set Nov. 4 to 30 in Khanty-Mansyisk, Russia where the top two will automatically booked a berth to the Candidates Tournament serving as the last stop before the next World Championship in 2020.​