The Filipino Grand Master Wesley So battles for the top spot in the on-going 72nd Corus international chess championship group B in the Netherlands against the solo leader Dutch GM Anish Giri last Friday. Unfortunately, Pinoy Grandmaster failed to snatch the lead.
The 16-year old Wesley So played the King’s Pawn Game (e4) instead of his usual Queen’s Pawn Game (d4) and the 15-year-old Giri responded with the Petroff defense, ending the game in 36 moves.
Giri launched an attack and sacrificed his knight then his bishop to open up lines towards So’s king. So defended well but reportedly seemed to have inaccuracies.
With his loss against Giri his ranking slides down a notch to 3rd place. So has now a record of 6.5 points on 3 wins and 7 draws. He is currently tied at 3rd place with GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany.
Wesley’s 12th round match is scheduled on Saturday is against England’s GM David Howell, he will be using the black pieces. On his 13th and final round match on Sunday, So will be playing against woman Grandmaster Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine using the white pieces.
Posts Tagged ‘gm wesley so’
GM Wesley So Failed To Take The Top Spot Of Corus B
by admin, on Sat, Jan 30 2010 | No Comments
Wesley So Oust Super GM Gata Kamsky
by admin, on Sun, Nov 29 2009 | No Comments
The Philippine chess phenomenon Grandmaster Wesley scored another big win in the World Chess Cup 2009 by eliminating defending champion and super GM Gata Kamsky at the Khanty-Mansiysk Festival of Arts in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. This victory makes the 16-year-old chess wizard to advance in the fourth round of the chess tilt after getting a draw in the second of his two-game match against Kamsky.
Young Wesley So displayed nerves of steel as faced the veteran and a championship candidate Gata Kamsky. The official scores in the third round encounter is 1.5-05 as So (ELO 2640) blocked the defending champion’s advances in 42 moves.
So also eliminated the World No.12 Super GM Vassily Ivanchuk (ELO 2739) in Round 2 of the tournament after disposing of GM Gadir Guseinov in Round 1. The World Chess Cup 2009 is a qualifier for the Candidates’ Tournament of the World Chess Championship in 2011.
Before beating Kamsky, Wesley was quoted in an interview by the World Chess Cup official website that he dreams of reaching ELO 2700.
“I am 16 and the greatest achievement for me so far is the second place in one tournament with average rating about 2700. At the moment my rating is 2640. I dream that sooner or later I will come to the magical point 2700. I don’t know how much time I will need for that,” he said.
National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. congratulated So for his stunning upset win over Kamsky, and urged the Filipino champion to “continue to play well and bring honors to the country.”
