Phenom GM Wesley So Leading Battle of GM's Tournament despite controversy

Grandmaster Wesley So, the new Philippine Phenom, is leading the Phoenix Petroleum & Dapitan City Battle Of Grandmasters by 1.5 pts going into the final? round. Going into Round 11 GM So has 7.5 pts with 2 players behind him with 6 pts. All GM So has to do in the final round is get a draw and he will have 8/11 pts, why is this important? One of the players with 6.0 pts, GM Rogelio Antonio Jr and GM Wesley So had a short (22 moves) draw in Round 6, as I understand it, there were NO rules in the tournament banning short draws, nor were the players informed that short draws would be frowned upon. Yet, this short draw was nullified by an organizer and the players ordered to play again, this game has yet to happen.

Now, if GM Antonio Jr wins his last round game, he will have 7 pts. The final round is tomorrow, 31 March, 2009 and GM So draws his last game, he will have 8 points, obviously if he wins his last round game, with 8.5 points, there would be no way GM Antonio Jr could tie or win the tournament, so would this game even be played? The point would be moot really, I mean, they would probably play a well-known drawish game and agree to a draw after 30 moves..to what point? Aggravate the players? But there is always the possibility that GM So would lose his final round game, despite dominating the whole field pretty much, his opponent being GM Darwin Laylo (FIDE 2504) compared to GM So's rating of 2627 (With an expected change of +13.9 on April 1, 2009), GM So should have good chances at winning this game. But if GM Laylo pulls off the upset, and GM Antonio Jr wins his last round game (vs GM Eugenio Torre! FIDE 2560 to Antonio Jr's 2519) which looks to be quite a battle, then by no choice of the players, a replay will be needed, even though GM So would still have a .5 lead, due to the chance of a loss by So. If you think this is all messed up, think how the players feel!

So when would this final game be played (if really necessary), the same day? With a days rest for the players? Did the organizer who negated the round 6 game realize the implications that would come of this? Did he even have the authority to negate a game? I don't know...I would think if short draws were NOT against the rules of the tournament, I would say no. What a mess... At any rate, here's the standings after Round 10 (Today) and the pairings for tomorrow's final? round.

Phoenix Petroleum & Dapitan City Battle Of Grandmasters Standings (Round 10)

Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts.
1 GM SO Wesley PHI 2627 7,5
2 GM ANTONIO Rogelio Jr PHI 2519 6,0
3 GM TORRE Eugenio PHI 2560 6,0
4 GM GOMEZ John Paul PHI 2539 5,5
5 GM LAYLO Darwin PHI 2504 5,5
6 IM SADORRA Julio Catalino PHI 2445 5,5
7 IM BITOON Richard PHI 2473 5,0
8 GM PARAGUA Mark PHI 2537 5,0
9 IM NOLTE Rolando PHI 2488 4,0
10 GM GONZALES Jayson PHI 2468 3,5
11 GM VILLAMAYOR Buenaventura PHI 2471 3,0
12 IM DABLEO Ronald PHI 2432 2,5


Round 11 on 2009/03/31 at 1400

Bo. No. Name Result Name No.

1 6 GM TORRE Eugenio - GM ANTONIO Rogelio Jr 12
2 7 IM NOLTE Rolando - GM GOMEZ John Paul 5
3 8 GM GONZALES Jayson - GM VILLAMAYOR Buenaventura 4
4 9 GM SO Wesley - GM LAYLO Darwin 3
5 10 IM DABLEO Ronald - IM BITOON Richard 2
6 11 GM PARAGUA Mark - IM SADORRA Julio Catalino 1