WCC : ELITE ROUND

RP’s So makes elite 4th rd of World Chess Cup
11/29/2009 | 01:27 PM
GMA News.TV

KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia - GM Wesley So of the Philippines added defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the US to his list of world-class victims, claiming a decisive 1.5-.5 triumph in their third-round showdown in the 2009 World Chess Cup at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts Saturday night.

In a fitting follow-up to his equally-shocking 1.5-.5 upset win over former world championship finalist GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Russia in the second round, the 16-year-old So avoided unnecessary risk with the white pieces and finished off Kamsky with a draw in 42 moves of the Dutch defense.

Wesley So
The multi-awarded Filipino champion from Bacoor, Cavite, who is expected to breach the super GM ELO 2700 mark at the end of the year, held a slight initiative in a rook and bishop ending when he accepted Kamsky's offer to split the point.

When the game was agreed drawn, So and Kamsky had a rook, bishop and four pawns each.

So, who shocked Kamsky in the opener of their two-game third round showdown Friday, thus earned the right to advance to the 16-player fourth round against the winner of the match between GMs Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine and Vladimir Malakhov of Russia.

The 11th-seeded Eljanov (ELO 2729) and the No. 22 Malakhov (ELO 2706), who drew their first two games, are set to play rapid tiebreak matches Sunday night.

"I'm really happy to have played well against Kamsky. But I really spend a lot of time for preparations against every single opponent. I know that even if they are already super GMs, they can also make mistakes," So told the official website of the World Cup.

"I just hope I can sustain my momentum," added So, who hardly showed any sign of the ill effects of the cool minus-30 weather condition in this scenic Western Siberian town patterned after the world-class Scandinavian resorts.

Kamsky, who lost to GM Anatoly Karpov in the 1997 World Championship, said So clearly deserved the victory.

"It is clear that my opponent (So) was better prepared. I was thinking that I could win against this player with my experience. But sadly, my opponent was not that easy to beat, as I was expecting. He turned out to be a very serious player," said Kamsky, who played the top board for the United States during the World Chess Olympiad in Turin in 2006 and Dresden in 2008.

I'm really happy to have played well against Kamsky. But I really spend a lot of time for preparations against every single opponent. I know that even if they are already super GMs, they can also make mistakes.
–Grandmaster Wesley So
"I was always choosing the wrong openings. Everything was decided in the first game. I played recklessly and got the problematic position. In the second game, I had to solve a difficult problem. But it is almost impossible to beat a good player with black," added the Russian-born Kamsky.

"I played the Dutch defense, sacrificed a pawn and got some chances. But at one point, I went too far and the advantages for my opponent were clear enough and I offered a draw so as not to suffer."

Sharing the limelight with So on the eighth day of competition was former women's world champion Judit Polgar, who shocked top seed GM Boris Gelfand of Israel to level the score in their third-round showdown.

Polgar, one of only three female participants in the 126-player field, capitalized on Gelfand's misplaced pieces on the board and launched a relentless attack against the Russian-born Israeli player to prevail.

Also advancing to the fourth were GM Alexei Shirov of Spain, who crushed GM Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia, 1.5-.5; GM Ruslan Ponomariv of Ukraine, who subdued GM Alexander Motyloev of Russia, 1.5-.5; GM Nikita Vitiugov of Russia, who eliminated GM Konstantin Sakaev of Russia, 1.5-.5; GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, who nipped GM Wang Hao of China, 1.5-.5; and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, who ousted GM Yu Yangyi of China, 1.5-.5.

GMs Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Areschenko, both of Ukraine, recovered from a first-game loss to equalize their match scores against David Navara of the Czech Republic and Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia, respectively. - GMANews.TV