BREAKING NEWS: So - Malakhov Game 1 a Draw, Game 2 Tuesday
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 30 Nov 2009
GM Wesley So of the Philippines and GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia drew the first game of their World Cup fourth round mini-match Monday evening (R.P. Time) in 65 moves.
GM So played white and opened with 1. d4 and GM Malakhov responded with the Slav defense. The game evolved into a positional struggle at the center. After the 18th move the battle shifted to the a and b files with So backing up his a pawn with his rook; his queen and other rook bearing down on the b file. With the center locked it seemed Malakhov was in a purely defensive mode.
Queens were exchanged on the 33rd move. The reached the endgame with five pawns and a rook each; So had a knight while Malakhov had a bishop. So had his rook on the seventh rank and Malakov?s bishop was blocked by his own pawn. So?s knight was well posted at d4 but was the small advantage enough to win?
So tried to manoeuvre so he could get Malakhov?s isolated d-pawn. But his miniscule advantage wasn?t enough and the game was drawn at the 65th move.
So will play the black pieces in Game 2.
The 16 year old So entered the tournament with an ELO rating of 2640. He earned his ticket to the World Cup by placing 2nd during Zone 3.3 Chess Championship which was held last July in Vietnam.
The 29 year old Malakov (ELO 2706) won the World Under-14 Championship in 1993. He placed 11th in the 2005 FIDE World Cup and joined the 2006 Candidates cycle.
In 2007 So became the youngest grandmaster in Philippines history at 14 years and one month old. Last August 2008, he won Board one gold during the World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad held in Turkey and lead the country to third place. In that tournament won by India, the Filipino youngsters beat chess powerhouses Russia (3-1) and England (3-1).
The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009 is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from November 20th to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. There are now only 16 players left in the fourth round. The finals or seventh round consists of four games.
The second game of their mini-match will be played Dec. 1 Tuesday evening (R.P. Time)
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