SO VS MALAKHOV: JUST HOW FAR CAN THE PINOY PRODIGY GO?
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 30 Nov 2009
SO VS MALAKHOV: JUST HOW FAR CAN THE PINOY PRODIGY GO?
Filipino chess fans will be glued to their seats again tonight, monitoring the live internet broadcasts of the World Chess Cup fourth round match between 16 year Old GM Wesley So versus GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia.
Pacland's chess forum has been buzzing with activity ever since So became the sensation of the 2009 World Cup, beating two of the world's best - Vasily Ivanchuk and defending World Cup champ Gata Kamsky.
The 29 year old Malakhov is a former World Under-14 Champion and has an ELO rating of 2715. He plays mostly the Sicilian defense or the Slav as black and most of his white games have opened with 1.e4, even though he has used the English on certain occasions. He previously qualified for the Candidates matches in 2007. Malakhov won his two tie break games against Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine last Sunday.
So entered the World Cup with a 2640 ELO. He has preferred using e4 as white and the Sicilian and Queen's Indian as black but he has varied his choices against top level players; using the French defense in his wins against Ivanchuk and Kamsky and opened with d4 against Ivanchuk and c4 in his second game against Kamsky.
Just how far can Wesley So progress in this tournament? He has shocked every one so far, even the most fanatical Filipino sports fans. Highly ranked players still not eliminated include Boris Gelfand of Israel, Russians Peter Svidler and Alexander Grishuk, Ukrainians Ruslan Ponomariov and Sergey Karjakin and Spain's Alexei Shirov.
Whatever happens tonight, So's performance has made us proud and corporate sponsors should shoulder his training. Present World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India lived in the Philippines when he was nine years old and it was here that he learned to play chess. But he sharpened his skills playing against top notch players in Europe. Exposure and proper training is the key.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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