Rising Filipino chess star Arca rules Vietnam Grandmaster tilt

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino teen sensation Christian Gian Karlo Arca showed he’s the next big thing in Philippine chess as he topped a Grandmaster tournament in Quang Ninh in Vietnam over the weekend.

The prodigious 15-year-old FIDE Master finished undefeated by scoring six points in nine rounds on three victories and six fighting draws in claiming the crown in the second of the two-bracket tournament.

It was made more special by Arca coming in as the lowest rated among 10 participants with a 2265 rating before defying overwhelming odds to complete the improbable conquest.

The feat earned Arca the second of the three norms to become an International Master while earning a massive 62.8 FIDE rating points that should propel him straight to the breaching 2300-plateau.

His wins came at the expense of Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh, and IMs Azarya Jodi Setyaki of Indonesia and Lou Yiping of China in the first three rounds; and drew his last six outings, including those against GMs John Paul Gomez, also of the Philippines, and Nguyen Anh Dung of Vietnam and IMs Michael Concio Jr., also his countryman, and Liu Xiangyi of Singapore.

Concio finished third five points while Gomez fifth with 4.5 points.

IM Daniel Quizon saw action in the first bracket but was off form and wound up sixth with 4.5 points.

Mercifully, Arca was there to carry the flag and continue to live up to hype as the one next in line to be the country’s GM.