SEOUL - The illustrious American Pedro Piedrabuena is the proud leader of the ranking after two days of preliminary rounds at the World championships in Seoul. He tops the list with four match points, a magnificent 3.478 average and a high run of 18. The reigning champion, Frédéric Caudron, is the second, ahead of Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx, Dani Sánchez, Tayfun Tasdemir and Torbjörn Blomdahl.
Jung Han Heo was the first Korean of four Koreans in the top sixteen.
Fourteen players finished the group stage with the maximum match points, Jae Ho Cho and Hyun Min Seo close the row with three match points.
Seven of the sixteen players in the final round ended the preliminaries with two average and more. The Egyptian Sameh Sidhom also played over two (2.172), but was outplayed by Tayfun Tasdemir.
The matches for tomorrow in the first round of the knockout phase (Korean time):
10.00:
Piedrabuena-Seo.
Heo-Legazpi.
12:00:
Sánchez-Choi.
Merckx-Catano.
14.00:
Jaspers-De Bruijn.
Tasdemir-Zanetti.
16.00:
Blomdahl-Tran.
Caudron-Cho.
The Korean Hyun Min Seo stepped as the last winner out of the arena after three days of preliminary rounds. His last mission in the group with two Belgians was the elimination of Roland Forthomme in the tournament.
The main conclusion after two days:
1 Four of the seven Korean enter the final rounds for the battle with sixteen.
2 Three players from the top ten of the world (Filipos Kasidokostas, Kyung-Roul Kim and Dong Koong Kang) are out of the game.
3 Three of three Greeks are out of the tournament.
4 Two of four Belgians don't show up in the next round, Roland Forthomme and Eddy Leppens, who were in the same group.
5 Six of seven South Americans can make the long trip back home. The only one that survived is Huberney Catano.
6 Sameh Sidhom (2.172), Glenn Hoffman (1.864), Choong-Bok Lee (1.657) Tolgahan Kiraz (1.647), Jérémy Bury (1.621) and Javier Teran (1.604) were the best players on average who are not in the finals.
7 Two winners of the World Cup this year, Frédéric Caudron (Luxor) and Jae Ho Cho (Istanbul) face each other in the first round.
8 Two compatriots, Dick Jaspers and Jean Paul de Bruijn, also teammates in the Netherlands and Belgium, meet in the first round.
Jean Paul de Bruijn will face Dick Jaspers in the next round.
The final rankings in the groups:
Group A:
1 Frédéric Caudron 4-2.758-13
2 Tatsuo Arai 2-1.347-7
3 Jérôme Barbeillon 0-1.222-11
Group B:
1 Torbjörn Blomdahl 4-2.051-8
2 Xuan Cuong Ma 2-1.578-8
3 Kostas Papakonstantinou 0-1.326-8
Group C:
1 Dick Jaspers 4-2.352-10
2 Luis Aveiga 2-1.212-7
3 Arnim Kahofer 0-1.142-4
Group D:
1 Pedro Piedrabuena 4-3.478-18
2 Tolagahan Kiraz 2-1.647-5
3 Filipos Kasidokostas 0-1.292-7
Group E:
1 Sung-Won Choi 4-1.568-8
2 Ramon Rodriguez 2-1.352-8
3 Antoine Gholam 0-0.564-4
Group F:
1 Eddy Merckx 4-2.285-8
2 Javier Teran 2-1.604-8
3 Guido Sacco 0-1.404-8
Group G:
1 Marco Zanetti 4-1.568-8
2 Tonny Carlsen 2-1.510-9
3 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 0-1.185-8
Group H:
1 Huberney Catano 4-1.428-8
2 Kyung-Roul Kim 2-1.350-10
3 Martin Bohac 0-1.101-4
Group I:
1 Ruben Legazpi 4-1.632-10
2 Glenn Hoffman 2-1.864-11
3 Dong Koong Kang 0-1.333-8
Group J:
1 Jae Ho Cho 3-1.509-6
2 Henry Diaz 2-1.250-6
3 Christos Christodoulidis 1-1.184-4
Group K:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 4-2.105-11
2 Sameh Sidhom 2-2.172-8
3 Chi Yeon Cho 0-0.948-8
Group L:
1 Dani Sánchez 4-2.162-9
2 Christian Rudolph 2-1.428-8
3 Kouji Funaki 0-1.219-9
Group M:
1 Jung Han Heo 4-1.632-12
2 Jérémy Bury 2-1.621-14
3 Cetin Behzat 0-0.884-7
Group N:
1 Min Seo Hyun 3-1.403-8
2 Roland Forthomme 2-1.365-8
3 Eddy Leppens 1-1.361-8
Group D:
1 Jean Paul de Bruijn 4-1.333-10
2 Mohsen Fouda 2-0.811-7
3 Nikos Polychronopoulos 0-0.866-14
Group P:
1 Quyet Chien Tran 4-1.568-10
2 Choong-Bok Lee 2-1.657-9
3 Juan Pablo Sisterna 0-0.714-5
The very talented Quyet Chien Tran is the only Vietnames in the finals.
The winners in the groups:
1 Piedrabuena 4-3.478-18
2 Caudron 4-2.758-13
3 Jaspers 4-2.352-10
4 Merckx 4-2.285-8
5 Sánchez 4-2.162-9
6 Tasdemir 4-2.105-11
7 Blomdahl 4-2.051-8
8 Heo 4-1.632-12
9 Legazpi 4-1.632-10
10 Tran 4-1.568-10
11 Zanetti 4-1.568-8/8
12 Choi 4-1.568-8/7
13 Catano 4-1.350-10
14 De Bruijn 4-1.333-10
15 Cho 3-1.509-6
16 Min Seo Hyun 3-1.403-8.