So eliminates Ivanchuk

MANILA, Philippines - Wesley So held GM Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw in their second game as the Filipino GM advanced to the third round while booting out the fancied former world championship contender from the World Chess Cup at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia late Wednesday.

So, who stunned Ivanchuk with the black pieces to win their first game, thus wrapped up his match-up with the sixth-seeded Ukrainian who totes a super-GM rating of 2739 with a 1.5-0.5 score to move in the Last 32 of the tournament which gathered the world’s best players.

The fourth-year high school student of St. Francis of Assisi College will face former child prodigy GM Gata Kamsky of the US in the third round beginning Friday.

The Russian-born Kamsky eliminated Filipino GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr. in the first round and GM Zhou Weiqi of China in the next.

So’s victory over Ivanchuk and his 4-1 triumph over GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan in the rapid chess matches in the first round enabled him to better Antonio and GM Mark Paragua’ second round feats in the World Cup. GM Eugene Torre reached as far as the quarterfinal stage in a different world championship elimination format.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay and FIDE honorary lifetime president Florencio Campomanes both lauded So’s latest exploits.

“Like (world boxing champion) Manny Pacquiao, Wesley is now a national treasure. He gives the whole nation something to cheer about after all those natural calamities. His success makes us all proud to be Filipinos,” said Pichay.

Campomanes congratulated So for “putting the country back in the international chess map again.”

Pichay and NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino have instructed Antonio and GM Darwin Laylo, who was already eliminated, to “stay behind and provide the much-needed assistance to So in his history-making campaign.”

Antonio, who lost to Kamsky in the first round, and Laylo, who was eliminated by GM David Navara of Czech Republic, are expected to help So prepare his strategy against Kamsky.

So, who became the world’s seventh youngest player to earn a GM title in December 2007, left nothing to chance in his second game against Ivanchuk.

The 59th-ranked So, who played white, opened with the usual d4 and wisely kept the Ukrainian champion in check with his precise moves and continuation.

He then forced an exchange of the major pieces – bishop, knight and two rooks – and steered the game into a queen and pawn ending which offers little winning chances especially for black.