AEROFLOT UPDATE: GM So scores first win against GM Bocharov
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 11 Feb 2010
Filipino grandmaster Wesley So (ELO 2656) won with the white pieces Wednesday night (Manila Time) against GM Dmitry Bocharov (ELO 2594) of Russia in his second round game in the ongoing Aeroflot Open 2010 Tournament in Moscow.
GM So opened with 1.e4 and Bocharov responded with the Sicilian defense. The players duelled into the Taimanov variation. On his 8th move So castled queenside, Bocharov had an open line towards So's king with his queen on the c-file. So however had his queen and bishop controlling the g1 to a7 diagonal.
Bocharov castled kingside on his 16th move and with the subsequent opening of the center,it became a tense battle of organizing their attacks on opposite sides.
The 16 year old Filipino attacked first and manoeuvred his queen and bishops and king side pawns towards the Russian?s king. But So was also falling behind on his clock.
The 27 year old Bocharov made a mistake when he took So?s f-pawn and was on the verge of losing a piece and he resigned after So?s 32nd move.
Another Filipino, GM Darwin Laylo played the Sicilian defense as black against GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan. Their battle was concentrated at the center of the board but Laylo lost a piece in the subsequent exchanges.
Laylo decided to fight on despite being behind in material going into the endgame but subsequently lost second straight game after 48 moves.
So drew his first game with the black pieces against GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran in 25 moves of a Queen?s gambit Tuesday. Laylo lost to Azerbaijan's GM Rauf Mamedov in his first game.
The two Pinoy grandmasters are competing in the in the A1 group (for chessplayers with a FIDE rating higher than 2549) and winner of this prestigious tournament gets 21,000 euros.
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