Mersin, Turkey
August 16-25, 2008
Final Standings
1-2 India, Russia, 28.5/40
3 Philippines, 27.0/40
4 Azerbaijan, 24.5/40
5-6 Armenia, Georgia, 24.0/40
7 Turkey “A”, 23.0/40
8 Turkey “B” 22.0/40
9-11 Slovakia, Turkey “C”, Greece, 21.0/40
Total of 26 countries
The Philippine team:
bd 01 GM Wesley So 2577, 9.0/10
bd 02 NM Haridas Pascua 2171, 5.5/10
bd 03 Jon Alcon Datu 2138, 5.5/10
bd 04 Jan Emmanuel Garcia 2232, 6.5/9
This is the second consecutive bronze medal finish for the Philippines in the Youth Olympiad. Wesley scored 9.5/10 in the 2007 edition and so his overall score in this team competition for Under-16 year olds is an incredible 18.5/20.
What is his rating now? Let us see:
2577 rating as of June 30, 2008
+14.6 pts from Battle of GMs
+12.2 pts from Phil Grand Finals
+ 8.0 pts from World Junior Championship
+15.0 pts from Youth Olympiad
Current rating, therefore, is 2626.8 or, rounded off, 2627. He is the highest-rated
Filipino player since the glory days of Eugene Torre in the early 80s.
Here is Wesley’s best game from the competition from our mighty upset of the Russian team in round 7.
So,Wesley (2577) - Shimanov,Alexandr (2480) [b]
WChT U16 Mersin (7), 22.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6
Nowadays the names "Paulsen" and "Kan" Variation are used interchangeably to describe this line. It is less popular than the Taimanov (4...Nc6) but statistically has better results.
5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0–0
I have witnessed 6.e5?? several times. Of course it loses a pawn to 6...Qa5+
6...Qc7 7.Qe2
There is a subtlety here. White should not play 7.c4 right away because after 7...Nc6! 8.Nxc6 dxc6 followed by ...e6-e5 Black with his control of d4 is already slightly better. The f8-bishop is not shut in and can go to c5.
7...d6 8.c4
Now that 7..d6 has been played the possibility above has been avoided.
8...g6 9.Nc3 Bg7 10.Rd1 0–0 11.Nf3
This plan was introduced by the Yugoslav attacking great Ljubomir Ljubojevic. White intends to put pressure on the pawn on d6.
11...Nc6 12.h3
Here is a tip - in such positions where White intends to play Bf4 he should preface it with h2-h3. Why? Well if he plays the move immediately then 12.Bf4 e5 followed by ...Bg4 and White loses control of d4.
12...Nd7
A waiting move. Black postpones ...b7-b6 because he might have other ways to develop the bishop.
13.Bf4 Bxc3!?
This idea has been seen previously, both with the White bishop on e3 or f4. Black destroys White's queenside pawn structure with 13...Bg7xc3!? followed by ...b7-b6 and ...Nd7-c5. White is compensated for this weakness by the prospect of a kingside attack. This type of position is ideal for Wesley So - he must have been rubbing his hands in glee while surveying the enemy kingside.
14.bxc3 f6
The great Vassily Ivanchuk has played this position for Black, and his treatment was to play 14...e5 followed by putting a knight on e6, rook on d8 and then ...f7-f6. Karjakin,S (2732)-Ivanchuk,V (2751)/ Nice 2008 1/2 (41). Let us see what Shimanov's idea is.
15.Nh2 Nc5 16.Bh6 Rd8 17.Ng4 Qe7 18.f4 e5 19.f5! Kh8
[19...gxf5 20.exf5 e4? does not work because of 21.Bxe4 Nxe4? 22.Qxe4 Qxe4 23.Nxf6+]
20.Qf2 gxf5 21.exf5 Qf7
Now the black knight cannot get to e6 and White's attack is getting very dangerous.
22.Bc2 b6 23.Rab1 Rb8 24.Be3!
Black wanted to play ...Ne7 to bolster his defences, but now 24...Ne7?? is refuted by 25.Bxc5, winning a piece.
24...Qe7 25.Qh4 Rf8 26.Nxf6! Nd7? caption: position after 26...Nd7
In the tournament bulletin it said that Shimanov lost after a blunder and in fact this move IS a blunder, but I don't see how the game can be saved anymore. After the relatively better 26...Qxf6 27.Bg5 Qg7 (better than 27...Qf7 because with the queen on g7 28.Rxd6 is met by 28...Bxf5!) 28.f6 (28.Rxd6 Bxf5) 28...Qf7 29.Rxd6 Bb7 (29...Bd7? 30.Bh6 wins) 30.Rxb6 White also wins.
27.Rxd6! 1–0
Black resigns because after the forced continuation 27.Rxd6 Rxf6 (27...Qxd6 28.Qxh7#; 27...Nxf6 28.Rxc6) 28.Rxc6 Qf8 29.Rxf6 Qxf6 30.Qxf6+ Nxf6 31.Rxb6 White is three pawns up with two powerful bishops to boot.
Our final score against Russia was 3-1. Here are the other Pinoy wins:
Yaksin,Oleg (2307) - Pascua,Haridas (2171) [b]
WChT U16 Mersin (7), 22.08.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.h3 Bg7 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0–0 8.Be3 b6 9.Qd2 e5 10.Bh6 Qd6 11.0–0–0 a5 12.Qg5 Re8 13.Nh2 a4 14.a3 b5 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Ng4 Nh5 17.Qh6+ Kg8 18.g3 b4 19.Nb1 Rb8 20.Qe3 Be6 21.Nd2 bxa3 22.bxa3 Ba2 23.Rde1 Re7 24.Kd1 c4 25.Ke2 Qxa3 26.dxc4 Qb4 27.Qd3 Ree8 28.c3 Qb2 29.Rb1 Bxb1 30.Rxb1 Qa3 31.Qd7 Qf8 32.Ra1 Red8 33.Qxc6 Rb2 34.Rd1 a3 35.Nxe5 a2 36.Nd3 Rc2 37.Qa4 Rxc3 38.Nb3 Ra8 39.Qb5 Rxb3 40.Qxb3 a1Q 41.Rxa1 Rxa1 42.c5 Qa8 43.Ke3 Nf6 44.f3 Ra3 45.Qc4 Nd7 46.Qd4 Qa4 47.Qd5 Qb5 48.Kd2 Qa5+ 49.Ke2 Ra2+ 50.Kf1 Qd2 0–1
Datu,John Alcon (2138) - Bodnaruk,Anastasia (2394) [A30]
WChT U16 Mersin (7), 22.08.2008
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 0–0 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.0–0 c5 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bxg2 10.Kxg2 d5 11.cxd5 Qxd5+ 12.Nf3 Qb7 13.Na3 Na6 14.Rc1 Rfd8 15.Qc2 Rac8 16.Qb1 Nc5 17.Kg1 Nce4 18.Rxc8 Rxc8 19.Nc4 b5 20.Ne3 Nc3 21.Bxc3 Rxc3 22.Rd1 Qc7 23.Kg2 e6 24.Rd3 Rc1 25.Rd8+ Qxd8 26.Qxc1 Nd5 27.Nxd5 Qxd5 28.Qc8+ Bf8 29.Qa6 Qc5 30.Qb7 Bd6 31.h4 h6 32.e4 Kg7 33.Qa6 Bc7 34.Qc8 Qb6 35.Qd7 Bd6 36.Qc8 Bc7 37.Qd7 Bd6 38.Qc8 Bc7 39.Qd7 Bd6 40.Qc8 Qc5 41.Qxc5 Bxc5 42.Ne5 f6 43.Nd3 Bd4 44.Kf3 Kf7 45.h5 g5 46.Kg4 Ke7 47.f4 Kf7 48.f5 Ke7 49.Kf3 Kd6 50.fxe6 Kxe6 51.g4 a5 52.a4 bxa4 53.bxa4 Kd6 54.Ke2 Ke6 55.Kd2 Kd6 56.Kc2 Kc6 57.Kb3 Bb6 58.Kc4 Bc7 59.Ne1 Be5 60.Nf3 Bb2 61.Nd2 Be5 62.Nb3 Bc7 63.Nd4+ Kd7 64.Kd5 Bd6 65.Nf5 Bf8 66.e5 Ke8 67.exf6 Kf7 68.Ke5 Bb4 69.Nxh6+ Kf8 70.Ke6 1–0
Straka,Josef Jr (2121) - Garcia,Jan Emmanuel (2232) [b]
WChT U16 Mersin (2), 18.08.2008
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 c6 5.h3 Bg7 6.f4 0–0 7.Nf3 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.0–0 Nbd7 10.e5 Ne8 11.Ne4 Bb7 12.Qe1 c5 13.c3 e6 14.Rd1 cxd4 15.cxd4 Nb6 16.Bc1 Nd5 17.Kh2 Rc8 18.Qd2 Qe7 19.Rde1 Kh8 20.g4 dxe5 21.fxe5 Nb4 22.Bb1 Bd5 23.b3 f6 24.g5 Bxe4 25.Bxe4 f5 26.Bb1 Nc7 27.h4 Ncd5 28.Bb2 Rc7 29.Rc1 Rfc8 30.Rxc7 Qxc7 31.Rc1 Qb7 32.Rxc8+ Qxc8 33.a3 Nc6 34.h5 Bf8 35.hxg6 hxg6 36.b4 Qd7 37.Qc1 Kg8 38.Ba2 Kf7 39.Kg3 Nce7 40.Qh1 Bg7 41.Bb3 Qc8 42.Qe1 Qh8 43.Qc1 Qh5 44.Kf2 f4 45.Qg1 Ne3 46.Ke2 Qh3 47.Bc1 N7d5 48.Bxe3 Nxe3 49.Ba2 Bf8 50.Bb3 Qf5 51.Qc1 Qe4 52.Qc7+ Be7 53.Kf2 Ng4+ 54.Kg2 Qe2+ 55.Kg1 Qf2+ 0–1
To all of you guys, congratulations!
Reader comments/suggestions are urgently solicited. Email address is bangcpa@gmail.com
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