WORLD CHESS CUP UPDATE: WESLEY SO LOSES TO MALAKHOV, ENDS CINDERELLA RUN
By Salvador Lopez
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 03 Dec 2009
The Cinderella-story of Philippine chess teen sensation Wesley So in the ongoing FIDE World Chess Cup came to an end when he lost his play-off match yesterday to Vladimir Malakhov of Russia.
The two grandmasters went into the rapid play-off after they split their two-game mini-match played under regular time control, i.e., 1? hours allotted to each player to complete 40 moves. Playing under a substantially faster time control (25 minutes or each player to finish the game), Malakhov wisely avoided sharp complications and steered the games into positions he is most comfortable with – positions requiring precise technical play that perfectly suits his style. So did play well for the most part of the three games he lost but some inaccurate moves were just what Malakhov needed to turn the games into his favour. Moreover, So appeared to lose the 2nd game by avoiding a draw by repetition and taking some risks and his valiant effort to win the 3rd game at all costs (due to the match situation) proved unsuccessful.
Overall, his first World Cup experience should be considered a success for the young So having beaten such giants of the game as Vassily Ivanchuk and Gata Kamsky and coming home richer with his USD25,000 prize (pre-tax) for reaching the fourth round of the tournament. A jump in his ELO rating is also expected as a result of his outstanding performance in the event.
As for the young chess phenom’s conqueror, Vladimir Malakhov, it was a deserved victory and with his solid style of play and his talent in rapid games (as he also demonstrated in his 3-0 victory over Pavel Eljanov in the previous round), this writer believes that he may be on his way to ultimately win the title inspite of being the lowest-rated player in the quarterfinals.
The fourth round also saw the departure of another teen sensation, 16-year old Fabiano Caruano of Italy, who lost his rapid play-off match ? - 2? to Vugar Gashimov, of Azerbaijan whose ELO of 2758 makes him the highest rated player remaining in the tournament together with Boris Gelfand of Israel. It was also in this round that the French duo of Etienne Bacrot and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got eliminated after their losing their play-off matches to former FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov and Boris Gelfand, respectively.
Thus, only eight players, all of them rated at 2700 and above, remain in the competition, five of whom represent Russia (even though Karjakin is still listed officially in the tournament as a representative of Ukraine). The pairings for the quarterfinals are:
Boris Gelfand (2758), Israel – Dmitry Jakovenko (2736), Russia
Shakriyar Mamedyarov (2719), Azerbaijan – Sergei Karjakin (2723), Russia
Vugar Gashimov (2758), Azerbaijan – Ruslan Ponomariov (2739), Russia
Peter Svidler (2754), Russia – Vladimir Malakhov (2706), Russia
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Salvador Lopez.
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