from chess-results.com:-


This is curious to me as the ICE series seems to be a relatively small local tournament and the fact that it can attract any foreign participation is amazing.

I am told all 5 filipinos taking part are students from STI West Negros University, Philippines. They are even accompanied by a coach!

Filing this post under "Chess Culture" as clearly Philippines chess culture is way different from ours.  Their commitment to chess is definitely stronger. Malaysians would never send a group of people under one University to play in an under-1600 event.

Kudos to Philippines for supporting our Malaysian event and kudos too ICE challenger series for having attracted foreign players!