Thursday, April 29, 2010

So joint 2nd, claims WC berth



MANILA, Philippines - Wesley So drew his final round match with fellow GM Zhou Jianchao of China to finish tied for second in the ninth Asian Individual Chess Championships yesterday and clinch a berth in next year’s World Cup.

Needing only a draw to assure himself of another stint in the World Cup, So readily agreed to halve the point with Zhou of China to finish with 6.5 points in a tie with GM Abjiheet Gupta of India, Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Zhou at the Subic Exhibition and Convention Center in Subic.

“I’m happy to make it to the World Cup again,” said So, who scored upset victories over former world championship candidates GM Gata Kamsky of the United States and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in last year’s World Cup.

“I really wanted to finish the tournament unbeaten, but I committed a slight mistake and he (Ni) was quick to capitalize,” said So, referring to the highly rated Chinese player whom he beat during the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany two years ago.

So and Jianchao used only 10 minutes and 14 moves before agreeing to draw their Berlin Opening game.

But it was all the 16-year-old Filipino champion needed to ensure his second straight appearance in the World Cup where he made an impressive Last 16 finish the last time out.

So had five wins, three draws and only one loss in the nine-round tournament organized by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) for the third time in four years.

His setback to Ni in the seventh round Tuesday stalled So’s title drive with the Chinese ace also drawing his final round match with Gupta to emerge the solo champion with 7 points. Ni won $6,000.

Joining Ni and So in the World Cup are Gupta, Zhou and Liem.

Liem clinched the fifth and last berth to the World Cup by humbling GM Liren Ding of China.

Meanwhile, national junior standout Jan Emmanuel Garcia toppled GM Saleh Salem of UAE to emerge the second-best Filipino performer with 5.5 points.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Game 4: Anand leads by one point after the second Catalan opening in the match


The fourth game of the FIDE World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand of India and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria saw another Catalan opening on the board. This is the first opening that was played twice in the match, the players are obviously willing to have a theoretical discussion.

Topalov was the one to deviate from the second game, as early as on move 5, when he played the sharper Bb4+ instead of a6.

Similar to the earlier Catalan game, Black clutched onto the extra pawn while White tried to take advantage of his faster pieces' development.

Anand aggressively advanced in the center to break opponent's pawn formation and open up the files and diagonals. At the same time, Topalov was carefully clearing the queenside in order to reduce the positional pressure.

The game appeared to be taking a normal course but then Anand's sudden Knight movement (e3-g4) caught Topalov without guard and on the wrong foot.

Not hesitating much, Anand knocked a piece sacrifice on h6 and picked a strong attack against the Black King.

Still precision was needed in carrying out the assault, but Anand never blinked and found the crushing 25. e5!

Topalov continued for a few moves more, but resigned at the imminent danger of a mate. Anand takes the lead in the match 2,5-1,5, tomorrow is a rest day and the games continue on Friday at 15:00.