Student places second in world cyber games

Dennis Chan, a Sunset Beach resident, takes a silver medal for WarCraft III in Singapore event.Dennis Chan is getting closer to capturing a world cyber title.

The 22-year-old, a resident of Sunset Beach, won the silver medal last weekend in the WarCraft III competition at the World Cyber Games Grand Final in Singapore.

By finishing as runner-up, Chan, a student at Orange Coast College and a 2001 graduate of Huntington Beach High School, earned a $10,000 check.

His second-place finish bettered his performance at last year’s world championships in San Francisco, where he finished fourth.

Chan, who has a strong international following, pulled off one of the biggest upsets at the Grand Finals. He drew a legendary WarCraft champion, Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen of the Netherlands, in a semifinal matchup.

Chan, known on the playing circuit as “Short Round,” defeated Schenkhuizen to move on to his first world final.

“I was very pleased to defeat Grubby,” said Chan, who went on to lose to another tough opponent in Xiaofeng Li of China in Sunday’s WarCraft III final.

The World Cyber Games Grand Final is the world’s largest video game tournament.

Chan beat out more than 40,000 other cyber gamers to qualify for Team USA and represent the country at the Grand Finals. The finals attracted 800 of the world’s best video gamers from 70 countries.

Chan’s silver medal finish helped the U.S. win the overall medal count.20051124iq0woskn(LA)