Wesley So off to good start in the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters 2014
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 12 Jan 2014
Wesley So.
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines? top chess player, Hydra Grandmaster (GM) Wesley Barbasa So, had a good start in the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters 2014 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
The 20 year-old Webster University sophomore student, the top player of National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. and Secretary-General Cavite Rep. Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino Jr. with an ELO rating of 2719, defeated Super GM Richard Rapport (ELO 2691) of Hungrary after 56 moves of Larsen's Opening using the black pieces to lead the opening winners on Saturday (Sunday morning Manila Time) in the 12 players, Group A division, round-robin tournament.
After the smoke has cleared, So had two pawns, a queen and bishop while Rapport had four pawns and a queen. So later forced the exchange of queens to get the upperhand.
"Clear win na y'ung Queen to c6 check ni Wesley sa 56th moves kasi na force nya ma exchange ang queen n'ya kay Richard then eventually one piece up s'ya," said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. who watched the games live through ChessBomb website.
In other matches, second seed hydra GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA (2786) subdued hydra GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany (2737) after 65 moves of Nimzo-Indian defense; 3rd seed hydra GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782) walloped 4th seed hydra GM Boris Gelfand of Israel (2777) after 30 moves of Sicilian Najdorf Variation; and 5th seed hydra GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia (2756) crushed super GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands (2678) after 60 moves of Catalan Opening.
The game between top seed hydra Levon Aronian of Armenia (2803) and super GM Pentala Harikrishna of India (2708) ended into a fighting draw after 30 moves of Giuco Piano Opening. Hydra GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands(2737) also split the point with hydra GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba (2754) after 31 moves of Ruy Lopez Berlin skimirsh. -Marlon Bernardino-
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