by Marlon Bernardino.
Singaporean Siew Kai Xin (above left) and Filipino Robert Suelo Jr. (above right) will be put to the test as they lead the Quezon City Simba’s Tribe in the upcoming GM Wesley So Cup which kicks off on May 15, 2021.
Siew will serve as import while Suelo will be part of homegrown players.
“We are very grateful for this wonderful opportunity that Singaporean Siew Kai Xin and Filipino Robert Suelo Jr. will serve as import and homegrown player in the upcoming GM Wesley So Cup which kicks off on May 15,” said Team Manager and Playing Coach Danilo Ponay.
Siew is a 2-time Chess Olympiad member of the Singapore National Team (2016 Baku, Azerbaijan and 2018 Batumi, Georgia) while Suelo won the 1996 Philippine Junior Championships.
Providing support for the team are 1991 Philippine Junior Champion International Master Arlan Cabe, 1985 Philippine Junior Champion National Master Carlos Edgardo Garma, female player Michaela Concio, Joseph Navarro, Jesus Benjamin Lising, Erwin Calar and Noel Jay Estacio.
The champion team will receive P150,000, the runner-up P75,000, the third placer P40,000, and the fourth placer P20,000.
Top individual performers – Best Import, Player of the Conference, and Finals Most Valuable Player – will get P10,000 each.
All these prizes will be shouldered by Super GM Wesley So, the wunderkind from Bacoor, Cavite, who is now an American and one of the world’s elite chess players.
So, the former top Filipino player is the reigning United States and Fischer Random world champion.
The PCAP is headed by president commissioner lawyer Paul Elauria and Chairman Michael Angelo Chua