They listed the round 10 standings as the “FINAL STANDINGS” but this tournament has 11 rounds.

Mas wins his final round game against pinoy Fernandito Pialan (2282) and ends up with 6/11. He performed according to his rating. No norms here but hopefully he will do better in the 3rd Philippines Open which starts immediately tomorrow!

Hot off the press from ABC-CBN News:-

After 11 grueling rounds, Chinese GM Li Chao emerged as the winner of the Philippine International Open Chess tournament at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center Wednesday.

Chao, also the reining champion of the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup, won by 8 points despite scoring a draw with Iranian GM Ehsan Ghaem Magami. 
“I’m very happy. I was very lucky with the last game,” said Chao through his interpreter WGM Zhang Ji Lin.

He will be going home to China with the $6,000 top prize and the tournament’s biggest trophy.
Chao won through a tie breaker as five of them garnered 8 points. Also among the five-way tie were Weiqi Zhou of China, GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, and Filipino GMs Julio Catalino Sadorra and returning Bong Villamayor.

So far from the web cam pictures it seems only Le Quang Liem is carrying around a trophy. Is he the champ?

That’s a screenshot taken from the live cam after the prize giving. I still don’t know the full results. It’s at times like this I wish there was a blogger there that used twitter

This last round win puts Julio Catalina Saddora into the winners list of 8 pointers in the 2nd Philippines Open 2008. Of course it all depends on the tie breaks as there are 4 players sharing top spot with 8 points. They are:

• Le Quang Lim,
• Julio Catalino Sadora,
• Li Chao and
• Zhou Weiqi.

Round 11 top board results (based on NFCP website live games):-

Le, Quang Liem	        8	0-1	8	Sadorra, Julio Catalino
Ghaemmagami, Ehsan	7½	½-½	8	Li, Chao
Mahjoob, Morteza	7½	½-½	8	Zhou, Weiqi
Irwanto, Sadikin	7½	1-0	7	Villamayor, Buenaventura
Liu, Dede	        7	½-½	7	So, Wesley
Antonio, Rogelio	6½	0-1	7½	Purnama, Tirta Chandra	

The results are still unnoficial as it has not been released yet at the NCFP website. The results was ‘deduced’ from the top board results of the live games broadcasted. Also since the moves were taken automatically from the DGT chess board, there could be some mistakes. Let’s hope NFCP publilshes the news fast as I can’t wait..

Players getting ready for the prize giving. Picture captured from NCFP live cam at http://ncfphilippines.org

No news on how Mas did yet. He was 5/10 (excluding the last round).

Latest result is that GM Mahjoob Morteza (2488) drew with Zhou Weiqi(2560) on board three. It was a peaceful 10 move draw.

Picture above shows Le Quang Liem (White) vs Saddora (not at board) battling it out on board 1.

Sadora seems to have the better attacking position.

Picture courtesy of ncfp live cam at the official website.

NZCF Olympiad Funds Appeal
In November 2008 the prestigious FIDE (World Chess Federation) Olympiad will take place in Dresden, Germany. The massive chess Olympiads are staged at two year intervals. For this coming event, New Zealand has an historic opportunity to send what may well be our strongest ever men’s and women’s teams. The New Zealand Chess Federation is now launching an Olympiad Appeal fund, to raise essential travel funds to assist the 10 team members and accompanying managers.

from http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/

Similiar to the Australian Olympiad Appeal funds.

This according to Kristaneus Liem’s blog.

Picture courtesy of portretcatur.blogspot.com

Update: De De Liu lost to Le Quang Liem in that round.