So thumps Italian foe, takes solo lead

MANILA, Philippines – GM Wesley So smashed Italian Daniele Vocaturo's King's Indian Defense in 43 moves to seize a one-point lead over another Italian Sabino Brunello, Israeli Emil Sutovsky and Georgian Baadur Jobava in the ACP Golden Chess Classic in Bergamo, Italy Monday night.

So punished Vocaturo, also 20 years old, for mistakenly sacrificing a Knight to open up the kingside but the former just had all the answers by neutralizing the attack with a series of exchanges.

When Vocaturo resigned, So was already a knight up and ready to cash in on it.

The win pushed the Webster U standout from a share of the lead with Sutovsky but to solo hold of it with 2.5 points, a full point atop Brunello, Sutovsky and Jobava.

It also sent So from No. 14 in the world the day before to No. 12 with a live rating of 2754.3 after zooming ahead of Israli Boris Gelfand (2754) and Russian Peter Svidler (2751).

So pulled off a marathon 69-move win over Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi, former European and Russian champion, while his other game ended up in a draw with Sutovski in the opening round.

One point behind were Brunello, who drew a third bye, Jobava who brought down Nepomniachtchi in 47 moves of a Sicilian Defense, and Nepomniatchtchi himself.

And Vocaturo was impressed of So.

"My opponent made very strong moves in a very short time and I had no chance at all. I was really impressed by the quality of his game," he said.