RP suffers defeat against China

Round 9 was acceptable, it was that difficult to swallow and somewhere along the way, our team was expected to take a beating.

This time, no upsets, no speculations,  no wishful thinking and no lucky ones. Just plain logic winning over fortunate players. GM Wesley So drew his game on board 1 while the rest of the games resulted in favor of the Chinese team. Philippine Men's chess team suffered a crucial 3.5 - .5 loss against the Chinese. This brought our ranking in the tournament to 12 coming into round 10.

For round 10, we are matched against Vietnam, another Asian powerhouse. This one will be epic.

If round 9 was crucial, this round 10 matches will decide whether whether we place within the top twenty or go down to the lower ranks.

I still feel good about our team. Unless we give away rounds 10 and 11, I can say we have over-achieved and that's worth every money the Filipino people have paid for in their taxes.

Good luck!