MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So sustained his awesome form and whipped GM Wouter Spoelman in 34 moves to wrest the solo lead in the eighth round of the Corus Group B Chess Championship at the de Morianne Community Center in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands Sunday.
On a hot streak after the rest day in the fourth round, So played with clockwork precision, dispatching his Dutch rival in their Nimzo-Indian encounter to post his fourth straight victory after four draws in row.
With a six-point total, the 17-year-old Filipino champion surged ahead of the tough field, posting a half-point lead over erstwhile solo leader GM Luke McShane of England, who tumbled down after a draw with GM Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia.
GM Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine, GM Radek Wojtaszek of Poland and Sargissian tote five points apiece.
So played brilliantly with the black, outwitting the 21-year-old Spoelman, who had to resign on the 34th after facing the specter of losing one or two bishops to stall the Filipino’s two connected queening pawns on the c-d files.
“I was really hoping to win the best game prize for this round, especially after winning four in a row,” said So.
The honor, however, went to the top seeded Wojtaszek, who defeated GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in 61 moves of a Slav.
Efimenko, the last player to draw with So, fell in a huge upset to GM Vlad Tkachiev of France.
The Category 17 tournament takes the second of three rest days Monday with So taking on GM Li Chao of China Tuesday.