So scores in World Junior chess opener

Grandmaster Wesley So opened his bid in the World Junior Chess Championship on a positive note, outclassing Fide Master Djuraev Sokhib of Tajikistan in Gaziantep, Turkey last Sunday.

The 14-year-old So, out to sustain a fine season that included a victory in the Dubai Open, made short work of Sokhib to cruise to the victory along with the fancied bets in the 13-round tournament for players 18 years old and below.

“I’m happy to win my first game here,” said So in an e-mail sent through his father-manager William.

“It’s a long way to go but I hope to perform well,” said So, hoping to improve his 20th-place finish in the 2007 edition of the annual event in Yerevan, Amenia.

So led the way in the first six rounds last year with four wins and two draws but back-to-back losses to eventual champion GM Ahmed Adly in the seventh round and GM Wang Hao of China in the eighth ruined his title bid.

He only managed to score 2.5 points in the last seven rounds on his way to a 20th place finish.

The 11th-ranked So, playing out of St. Francis College-Bacoor, faces Deep Sengupta of India, ranked No. 40 in the 184-player field.

The other Filipino player in the fold, NM Haridas Pascua, however, faltered in his maiden stint in the tournament, bowing to IM Hrant Immelkumyan of Armenia.

Pascua squares of with third seed Russian GM Dmitry Adnreikin, who also lost to No. 57 FM Davit Fmbenidze of Georgia.

Other opening day winners were top seed GM Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan, No. 5 GM Davit Baramidze of Germany, No. 6 GM Li Chao of China, No. 7 GM Luca Lenik of Slovakia, No. 9 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and No. 10 GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam.

Sengupta crushed Atsuhiko Kobayashi of Japan while Andreikin lost to No. 57 FM Davit Benidze of Georgia.