So bounces back into contention

GUANGZHOU - GM Wesley So bounced back from a so-so opening performance and picked up two victories to wheel back into contention in the rapid chess competitions of the Asian Games here yesterday.

So, who split his first two matches marred by a loss to a lesser-fancied rival, beat GM Handszar Odeev of Turkmenistan in the third round and the outclassed GM Susanto Megaranto of Indonesia to vault into a tie for fourth with three points in the 46-player field.

Top seed Gm Le Quang Liem of Vietnam leads the field with four points. He outdueled GM Murtas Kazhgaleyev of Uzbekistan in the third round and GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India to remain unbeaten for the solo lead.

GM Bu Xiangzhi of China and GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan share second with 3.5 points.

Joining So in fourth are GMs Ganguly and Krishan Sasikiran of India, GM Anton Filippov of Uzbekistan, GMs Kazgaleyev and Darman Sadvakasov of Kazakhstan and GMs Elshan Moradiabadi and Ehsan Ghaemmaghami of Iran.

GM Joey Antonio also rebounded from a one-win, one-loss game in the first two rounds as he scored a win and a draw for 2.5 points. He halved the point with IM Abdullah Hassan of UAE then won by forfeiture over IM Amanmurad Kakageldyev of Turkmenistan.

So tries to sustain his charge as he takes on Kazhgaleyev in the fifth round while Antonio will plays Bayarsaikhan Gundavaa of Mongolia.

Aside from So and Antonio, the other members of the Philippine chess team are GMs Darwin Laylo, John Paul Gomez and Eugene Torre.

The three will join So and Antonio in the standard chess team event to be held after the rapid tournament.