Two time champion to play in Malaysia

GM Li Chao will be playing in the 6th Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open 2009. He has won this event two times. He will be the defending champion in this 6th edition of the Malaysian Open.

PGMA winners

Li Chao, Congressman 'Butch' Pichay, Eugene Torre, Zhang Zhong.

Joint winners of the 3rd PGMA in Manila, September 2008. Prize money USD 5000 each.

Deciding match of 3rd PGMA 2008

This game took place on round 7 of the 3rd PGMA, Manila, Philippines 2008. Li Chao missed a decisive move that would have won the game. A win here would have brought down Eugene Torre who was leading the tournament throughout.

Here is the decisive game:

[Event "3rd Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arr"]

[Site "Duty Free Fiesta Mall, Philip"]

[Date "2008.09.11"]

[Round "7.1"]

[White "LI, Chao"]

[Black "TORRE, Eugene"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "A00"]

[WhiteElo "2590"]

[BlackElo "2524"]

[PlyCount "114"]

[EventDate "2008.09.07"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 Ne5 8.

Be2 d5 9. O-O O-O 10. Nd2 Bb6 11. f4 N5c6 12. e5 Qh6 13. N2f3 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Nf5

15. Bf2 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 c5 17. Be3 d4 18. Bd2 Bf5 19. Bf3 Rad8 20. c4 Qe6 21. b3

Qe7 22. Qe2 Rfe8 23. g4 Bc8 24. Qg2 Qc7 25. a3 Ba5 26. b4 Bb6 27. Rac1 a5 28.

b5 a4 29. Be4 Ba5 30. Bxa5 Qxa5 31. Bd3 Qc7 32. Rce1 g6 33. Qg3 Re7 34. f5 Rde8

35. b6 Qb8 36. Qf4 Rxe5 37. fxg6 fxg6 38. Qf7+ Kh8 39. Qf6+ Kg8 40. Be4 Be6 41.

Bxg6 Rxe1 42. Rxe1 hxg6 43. Qxg6+ Kf8 44. Qh6+ Kf7 45. Qh7+ Kf6 46. g5+ Kxg5

47. Qg7+ Kf5 48. Rf1+ Ke4 49. Qg6+ Ke3 50. Re1+ Kd2 51. Qb1 Rg8+ 52. Kh1 Bg4

53. Rf1 Qe8 54. h3 Bf3+ 55. Rxf3 Qe1+ 56. Qxe1+ Kxe1 57. Rf7 d3 0-1

In the end, Li Chao, Zhang Zhong and Eugene Torre were the highest scorer but Eugene Torre was declared champion on tie break.

Li Chao playing in the China vs Russia tournament

Li Chao left right after the 3rd PGMA was over to take part in this tournament.

Current result:-

Match 1

Wang Hao - Jakovenko, Dmitry 1-0
Tomashevsky, Evgeny - Ni Hua ½-½
Li Chao - Alekseev, Evgeny 1-0
Wang Yue - Inarkiev, Ernesto ½-½
Svidler, Peter - Bu Xiangzhi ½-½

Zhao Xue - Kosintseva, Tatiana ½-½
Pogonina, Natalija - Ruan Lufei 1-0
Korbut, Ekaterina - Shen Yang 0-1
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Xu Yuhua ½-½
Huang Qian - Kosintseva, Nadezhda ½-½

Match 2

Shen Yang - Pogonina, Natalija 1-0
Kosintseva, Nadezhda - Zhao Xue 1-0
Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina - Huang Qian 1-0
Ruan Lufei - Kosintseva, Tatiana ½-½
Xu Yuhua - Korbut, Ekaterina 0-1

Ni Hua - Svidler, Peter 1-0
Jakovenko, Dmitry - Bu Xiangzhi 1-0
Li Chao - Tomashevsky, Evgeny 0-1
Alekseev, Evgeny - Wang Yue ½-½
Inarkiev, Ernesto - Wang Hao 0-1

Website: http://www.russiachess.org/

GM Li Chao

Li Chao started to play chess at the young age of 6, and plays for Beijing Chess Club.

In 2005 he earned 6th place at the World Juniors Championship held in Istanbul.

The following year at the same championship held in Yerevan, Chao finished in the top 20.

In the third Singapore Master International Open Tournament he shared 4-9th place in 2006.

In August 2007, Li won the Scandinavian Chess Tournament (8 GMs in a field of 215) in Täby, Stockholm, Sweden with an amazing result of 8.5/9.

In September 2007, he won the 4th IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur.

He won the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup in Manila held on 21-29 November 2007.

In April 2008, he came joint first on points (7.0/9) and fourth on tie-break at the 10th Dubai Open (tpr 2643).

In May 2008, he came joint first on points (8.0/11) and first on tie-break at the 2nd Philippine International Open in Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

In August 2008, he won the 5th IGB Dato' Arthur Tan Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur with 9.0/11.

In September 2008, he was joint winner of the 3rd  President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup in Manila held on 6-13 September 2008. (Picture above Li Chao winning the event)