So shocks elite field

EDINBURGH, Scotland – After almost 18 hours up in the clouds and another six at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1, Doha and London Heathrow airports, I finally made it to Edinburgh at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16. A co-professor of mine at the De La Salle University Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Graduate School of Business, Dr. Ben Teehankee, is with me for a lightning visit.

We are in this charming (and chilly) city of 750,000 people to return a visit made by Professors Grant McKerron and Susan Laing of the Napier University Business School to the De La Salle Graduate School of Business in November last year and to forge academic exchanges in various areas between the two schools, including sports and recreation management. Napier has an enrollment of about 15,000, including students from over 80 countries.

On our way to Edinburgh, we are pleasantly surprised by the mega star treatment that the Gulf News, English language broadsheet of the United Arab Emirates has been giving to young Filipino chess sensation, the 14-year-old Wesley So. The headline proclaimed it all, “World’s youngest (Grandmaster) So wins Dubai Open crown – fourteen – year-old shocks experienced players.”

Chess, which is probably the next most popular sport in the Emirates, after soccer and cricket, regularly receives prominent treatment from UAE’s sports press. And So’s spectacular triumph is proof of this as the Filipino school boy’s exploits merited anywhere from half a page to a three-fourth spread almost daily from the day he won the Dubai Open on April 15, 2008.

The Gulf News senior reporter, E.R Nayan, wrote, “Wesley So, a school boy from the Philippines, shocked a strong pack of experienced players to walk away with the Dubai Open Chess Championship crown at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.”

So became the youngest player to win the 10-year-old tournament with seven points after the ninth and final round. So, who was only four years old when the Dubai Open began, was tied for the top spot with GMs Gagunashvill Merab of Georgia, Ghaem Maghami Ebsan of Iran and Li Chan of China, but won the title on better technical counts.

So, who will be back to defend his title next year, was quoted to have said, “I’m so delighted that I have made my father, who has traveled along with me, very happy. I am also thankful for the tremendous support from the Filipino Chess Club in Dubai (which) sponsored my stay in Dubai and the fans who turned up in huge numbers to cheer me up.”

Nayan writes that So, with his boyish smile, hardly comes across as a GM. The second child of chess lovers William and Eleanor So, Wesley did not expect to go all the way. Wesley confessed that all he wanted to do was to pickup as many points as he could.

Wesley’s father William was a school bus driver until he decided to quit his job and back his talented son. William now travels with him all around the world while wife, Eleanor, works in the accounting office of a university back in the Philippines and provides the steady income.

Recalling his participation in the same tournament in 2006, So said, “I did not perform well (then) and managed just five points. Today, I am so delighted because I must have added another 15 points to my (ELO) rating. This tournament will always remain special for me.” So also thanked Philippine Chess Federation president, Prospero Pichay for his personal encouragement and financial support.

Still on international sports, The Daily Mail of Great Britain reports that this early the 2012 London Olympic Games seem to be headed for the usual controversies surrounding the financial aspect of the sports gathering. Michael Lea reports that the spiraling costs of the London Olympics are being absorbed by an enormous emergency fund, say MPs (Members of Parliament). In a report next week, the MPs will savage ministers for failing to account initially for entire foreseeable expenditures such as tax and security, causing the original budget to rise form 3.4 British Pounds or BP (about P272 billion) to 9.3 billion (P774 billion).

When London won the games in 2005, the original budget was set as 2.4 billion BP (P192 billion) for construction costs with a further 1 billion BP set aside for regeneration costs.

Despite the support the London bid got from the public and the euphoria that greeted the city’s successful bid, the Daily Mail says that 73 percent feel the 2012 Games will not benefit their region.

What a turn of events!