First is this: both divisions were won by the highest rated player on the planet.

Jiaqing Wu (828, CHN), won the men’s division, and Siming Chen (highest-rated woman at 794, CHN) won the women’s division.

Siming Chen beat Rubilen Amit (PHI) for the women’s title.

The final four for the men came from three continents and featured a rare semifinal matchup between Wu and Shane Van Boening of the United States, who have been FargoRate numbers one and two for years. Their two previous matchups were at this year’s US Open, where Wu beat Van Boening 11-7, and at the 2014 China Open, where the score was reversed, i,e., Van Boening beat Wu 11-7. In yesterday’s match Wu gained a solid 4-game lead mid match that steadily melted away leading to a hill-hill game in which Van Boening found himself compelled to attempt and failed to pocket a high-risk rail-first shot. Wu ran out for the 11-10 win.

Anton Raga (PHI) beat Eklent Kaci [Kot Chee] (ALB) 11-8 in the other semifinal matchup.

A tale of two Filipinos

Anton (Anthony Cortes) Raga first garnered attention in the metro Manilla area of the Philippines after dominating school division events and private games in pool rooms as a teenager. At 22 now, he hasn’t travelled much. But he’s played enough that he was ranked world top 30 by FargoRate before the 2019 China Open. So to some not accustomed to hearing his name, he seems like a newcomer on the scene. But to FargoRate, he was already firmly in the company of the likes of Souquet and Oi and Kazakis and Alcaide and Woodward. FargoRate can assess this by the way be matches up with other Filipino players in, for instance, the Manny Pacquia Cup.

Raga had an amazing run here, and he lost 10-11 in the finals. So he was a mere one game away from winning the tournament. And his journey started in the qualifying rounds.

This performance skyrockets him to 4th on the FargoRate list and a rating of 820. Will he stay there? Does he belong there? We don’t know. He only has about 500 games in the system, so we will have to wait and see. Those around him have several thousand games in the system. He may very well belong there, and we are confident he belongs in the 800 club.

Jerico Banares is another Filipino player who came to the China Open. You likely haven’t seen his name, though, because he failed to advance from the preliminary rounds. You’ll see why that’s interesting in just a bit. Fans who follow professional pool tournaments likely won’t know Jerico Banares. But top players around the world who take a trip to the Philippines to test and hone their skill and maybe enjoy a beach know who Jerico is. And FargoRate knows who Jerico is. Before this tournament Mr. Banares was world #34, in the same ballpark as those listed above. And here’s the kicker. Jerico Banaras is now, following the 2019 China Open, in the 800 club. His performance at this event has raised his rating 8 points to 802 and to world #22, directly behind Yu Lung Chang and Albin Ouschan. Say what? Huh? I thought he failed to advance out of the prelims? 802??

Yes, that’s right. He performed sufficiently strongly in the preliminary matches—about 828-speed overall as a matter of fact—to raise his rating to 802. He beat some strong players by big margins and then lost a couple key gatekeeper matches 8-9 that prevented him from advancing. Too bad. Hopefully he’ll travel some more.