WHIZ KID WESLEY SO BOWS OUT

FILIPINO GRANDMASTER Wesley So failed to advance to the next round of the 2009 World Chess Cup as he bowed to Russian Super GM Vladimir Malakhov, 1-4, in the fourth round at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts in Russia, late Wednesday.

The 16-year-old So (ELO 2640), who twice held Malakhov (ELO 2706) to a draw during their classical time control, yielded to the Russian GM in three straight tie-break matches of rapid chess.

The 59^th-seed So bowed to the 22^nd-seeded Russian in 55 pushes handling the black pieces during their first tie-break match. This was followed by another win by Malakhov after 61 moves in the second match.

The Bacoor, Cavite pride So tried to fight back in the third game but Malakhov took advantage of the momentum to win in 32 moves.

Despite a shutout loss in the tie-break match, So will receive $30,000 (P1.41 million) prize money for reaching Round 4.

With the feat, Malakhov advanced to the fifth round or quarterfinals and will meet compatriot GM Peter Svidler (2754), who brought down last edition’s runner-up GM Alexei Shirov (2719) of Spain, 1.5-0.5, in their classical time control.

On the road to the fourth round or "Sweet 16," So stamped his class by booting out GMs Gadir Guseinov (2625) of Azerbaijan, Vassily Ivanchuk (2735, a perennial competitor in elite chess competitions) of Ukraine, and Gata Kamsky (2695, former World Championship challenger and WCC defending champion) of the United States, in that order.

So’s fourth-round finish is arguably the country’s best showing in World Chess Cup history, surpassing the efforts of his compatriots, GMs Rogelio Antonio Jr. , Darwin Laylo, Mark Paragua and Ronald Dableo who reached the second round of the competition.

GM Eugene Torre, Asia’s first GM, reached the quarterfinal stage under a different elimination format.

"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.

In other fourth round results, GM Sergey Karjakin (2723) of Ukraine beat GM Nikita Vitiugov (2694) of Russia, 1.5-0.5; GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2719) walloped GM Viktor Laznicka (2637) of Czech Republic, 1-5.0-5; GM Boris Gelfand (2758) of Israel trounced GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2718) of France, 4.5-3.5; GM Dmitry Jakovenko (2736) of Russia defeated compatriot GM Alexander Grischuk (2736), 5-3; GM Vugar Gashimov (2758) of Azerbaijan nipped GM Fabiano Caruana (2652) of Italy, 3.5-1.5; and GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2739) of Ukraine edged GM Etienne Bacrot (2700) of France, 3.5-2.5. -- Marlon Bernardino