Green light for Kazan

The Philippines’ pride, GM Wesley So,  is coming to town.

So, at 18 one of the world’s brightest young players,  has agreed to  represent the country  in the prestigious sports and cultural competition scheduled July 6-17, 2013  in Kazan, Republic of  Tatarstan, Russia.

“I’m  looking forward  to  play in the   27th  Summer Universiade for the  first  time  and  represent the country  again,”  said  So in an e-mail  message  from  Webster University  in St. Louis, Missouri where he  is currently enrolled as a  freshman  student.

So, now a member  of the ‘Magnificent 8’ of SPICE,  said no less than  four-time women’s world champion Susan  Polgar has given him the green light to play and represent the country in the  Kazan Universiade. 
 
Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines (FESSAP) president David Ong and  Philippine delegation   chef de mission Antonio Tiu  welcomed the  addition of So to the Philippine delegation to the Universiade.

“It’s a big honor for all of us. His entry is  a  tremendous boost to the Philippine delegation  to the  Universiade,” said  Ong  when  informed  about  So’s decision to represent the  country in the biennial competition  dubbed as the ‘Olympics’ of university  athletes.

So’s  formal  confirmation came after  the country, thru FESSAP,  was  officialy  admitted by the  Federation  Internationale   du   Sport   Universitaire  (FISU) as one of  the   participating countries in the Universiade.

The  admission was relayed in a formal communication sent  to FESSAP by FISU from its headquarters in  Lausanne,  Switzerland.

In  Kazan, So is expected to play against the world’s leading  university players.

“Being a world power in  chess, Russia is expected to field its best university players in Kazan,” said Ong. “The Russians also know a lot  about  Wesley (So). They  still  remember him  for his  sensational upset victories  over  (former world  championship  candidate) GM Vassily Ivanchuk of  Ukraine  in  the World  Cup,” he added.

A  FESSAP  official said  host countries in the  Universiade usually do everything  to excel in  sports where they are  traditionally strong.

This was evident during  the 2011 Shenzhen  Universiade where GM Li Chao  of China topped the chess competition.