World Chess Cup 2011

World Chess Cup 2011 is underway on this weekend. The round 1 games will commence on Sunday, August 28, 2011, 15:00 Khanty Mansiysk, Russia local time -- which converts to Sunday, August 28, 2011, 17:00 Philippine Time. That's 5PM on Sunday.

Two players are participating from the Philippines, GM Wesley So (ELO 2658) and GM Mark Paragua (ELO 2545).

Paragua (108th seed) will be up against the 21st seed, an elite chess player from England, GM Michael Adams (ELO 2715), in the first round. So, on the other hand, was seeded 64th and will be up against the 65th from China, GM Liren Ding (ELO 2654). Obviously, the So vs. Ding battle is expected to be more exciting.

[caption id="attachment_101" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Liren Deng in his serious moment over the board"][/caption]

Check out the official website of the tournament (which by the way is a WordPress site), the list of participants, and the tournament schedule in Khanty Mansiysk time.