Report by Ignatius Leong
In round 2, Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Duc defeated Mongolian Ganzorig Bulgankhan to join the lead with another Mongolian FM Erdene Baasansuren. The best Koreans FM Lee Jun Hyeok and Ahn Hongjin played out a draw.
In afternoon round 3, Duc went on to beat Bulgankhan to take the sole lead. Hongjin and 14-year old Filipino Daniel Quizon were engaged in a long-drawn out stonewall structure leaving basically no chances of any breakthrough. Indonesian favourite FM Jodi Setyaki went on the offensive against FM Lee which backfired leaving Setyaki defending his naked King with Bishop and Knight but under fire from his opponent’s Queen, Rook and Bishop. Lee’s King appeared to be safe but a very silly move helped his King got checkmated in 2!
In the Girls’ event, Filipino Kylen Mordido share the temporary lead with Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Minh Oanh when top seed Indonesian Diajeng Singgih was held to a draw by Korean WFM Lee Seyeon – both are only 14 years old.
The current results of the above 3 Koreans (FMs/WFM) are indicative that South Korea will be a major player in the near future. It goes to show that this 17-nation zone is getting too heavy. The combined population is around 1 billion but more worrisome is that it stretches from Timor Leste in the South to Mongolia in the north, and from Myanmar across the South China Sea to the Philippines. Air travel is worst than flying within the 2 extreme destinations in Europe.