Final  standings:

6.5  points --  P. Harikrishna (India),   Y. Yu  (China),  N.N. Truong  Son (Vietnam)
6 --    R. Jumabayev (Kazakhstan), B. Xiangzhi (China),  K. Sasikiran  (India),   S. Lu (China), E. Moradiabadi  (Iran).
5.5 -- W. So  (Philippines), P. Negi (India),  Z. Jun (China), Z. Weiqi  (China)
5 -- O. Barbosa  (Philippines),  J. Gomez   (Philippines), A. Ismagambentov  (Kazakhstan), Y. Wen (China), S. Ganguly (India),  A. Kunte  (India). P. Sethuraman (India), R. Kasimdzhanov  (Uzbekistan), C. Sang (Vietnam).


MASHHAD, Iran --  GM Wesley So  settled  for  a  pair  of  hard-fought  draws  against  GMs Bu Xiangzhi  of  China and Parimarjan  Negi of   India and finished in a  tie for  ninth to 12th  places in the 2011 Asian Continental  Individual  chess championships at the  Hotel  Pardisan  here Tuesday.

So, one of five  Filipinos entered in the prestigious, nine-round   tournament,  closed  out his campaign with  5.5 points on   three wins, five draws and only one loss.

The  17-year-old  Filipino  idol, who  was  seeded  third  in the  50-player  field,  finished  a   full point behind  GMs  Pentala Harikrishna  of   India, Yu  Yangyi of China  and  Nguyen Ngoc Truong  Son of  Vietnam.

Harikrishna, however, clinhed the title by virtue of higher tiebreak  score.

Yu and  Nguyen  finished second  and third, respectively.

Five other players --  GMs Rinat    Jumabayev  of  Kazakhstan,  Bu   Xiangzhi of  China,  Krishnan Sasikiran  of India,  Shanglei Lu of   China  and  Elsan  Moradiabadi of   Iran -- finished  in  fourth  to eighth  places with six points.

So’s  compatriots,  IM  Oliver  Barbosa and GM  John Paul Gomez,  led   a big group  of  players with  five points.

Barbosa drew his matches against  Indian  GMs  B. Adhiban  and   Abhijit  Kunte, while   Gomez  defeated  FM   E. Ahmadina  of   Iran and halved the  point with  GM  Wen Yang  of  China.

GMs  Darwin  Laylo and  Mark Paragua  finished  with  4.5 points apiece.

Laylo  ended his campaign with draws against GM Ehsan Ghaemmaghami  of    Iran a nd   Hou Yifang  of  China, while   Paragua bowed  out with  back-to-back losses to  Negi and Zhou Weiqi of  China.

The top four players earned the right to play in the 2011 World  Chess Cup  scheduled in Khanty-Mansiysk,  Russia later this year.

More World Cup berths, however, will be up for grabs when  the Asian  Zonals 3.3 chess  championships get underway in Subic,  Zambales  this  weekend.

NCFP presdient/chairman Prspero “Butch” Pichay said Filipino players will get another chance  to earn berths  in  the World Cup.