Super GM whiz kid Wesley So back in world’s top 100

THE 365 days of 2009 are almost over but for RP’s brightest hope Wesley Barbasa So, he just started his phenomenal chess career.

This was after the World Chess Federation (FIDE) released yesterday the expected rating change for the 16-year-old whiz kid from Bacoor, Cavite, who will be back in the world’s top 100 players list next month.

His sterling performance in this year’s World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, after beating World no. 12 GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in round 2 and last year’s World Chess Cup titlist GM Gata Kamsky of the US in round 3, gained him 15.8 points and he is expected to climb to 2656 when the Jan. 1, 2010 FIDE-RP rating list is formally released in a few days. He currently has an Elo rating of 2640. His best Elo rating is 2646 in July 2009 then lost two Elo in September 2009 (2644) and four Elo in November 2009 (2640).

Mark Paragua, the 1998 World Rapid U-14 champion in Disneyland, France, peaked at 2621 in April 2006. Asia’s First GM Eugene Torre, meantime, had an Elo rating of 2580 during his prime in the mid-80s when he topped the Toluca, Mexico Inter-Zonal.

“I dreamed that sooner or later, I will come to the magical point 2700.

I don’t know how much time I will need for that,” said the 2009 Corus Group C champion So, whose local and international campaign is being supported by NCFP president Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. and Filway Marketings, Inc. CEO/President Hector “Chito” Tagaysay.

So is invited to play in the Group B section of the 72nd Corus chess tournament on Jan. 15 to 31, 2020 at the Wijk Aan Zee, a North Sea resort in the Netherlands.

Torre, who has often compared So to Bobby Fisher, stated on a local radio program, “The talent and skills are already there and he has proven that. This year could be a test of character and nerves for him because everybody knows him already.”

A grandmaster who holds an Elo rating 2500 and above is affixed a name of “International Grandmaster,” while a GM with an Elo rating of 2600 and above is dubbed as “Super Grandmaster” and a GM whos has an Elo rating of 2700 and above is called “Hydra Grandmaster,” which the young So is targeting.

So was ousted in the world’s top 100 list in the November 2009 FIDE rating chart while Michael Krasenkov of Poland, Alexander Lastin of Russia and Arman Pashikian of Armenia tallied 2656 Elo rating points and were tied for 69th to 71st spot followed by Alexey Dreev of Russia, Vladimir Baklan of Ukraine and Boris Avrukh of Israel were joint for the 72nd to 74th spots with 2655 Elo rating points.

Participants in Corus Group B are GMs Ni Hua of China, Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany; Emil Sutovsky of Israel, Pentala Harikrishna of India; Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania; Varuzhan Akobian of the USA; David Howell of England; Parimarjan Negi of India; Tomi Nyback of Finland; Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia; Erwin l’Ami, Dimitri Reinderman and Anish Giri of the Netherlands.

In Corus Group A participants are GMs Viswanathan Anand of India; Magnus Carlsen of Norway; Vladimir Kramnik of Russia; Peter Leko of Hungary; Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine; Hikaru Nakamura of USA; Alexei Shirov of Spain; Sergey Karjakin of Russia (winner of Corus A last year); Leinier Dominguez Perez of Cuba; Nigel Short of England; Sergey Tiviakov of Netherlands; Fabiano Caruana of Italy (winner of Corus B last year); and Loek van Wely and Jan Smeets of the Netherlands.

There are three sections in the tough Corus chess -- A, B and C, according to chess columnist Frank “Boy” Pestano. “Wesley has been invited to play in Group B. To be invited to Corus is like to be invited to the White House,” he added. -- Marlon Bernardino

World Cup R3: WESLEY SO squeezes win over GATA Kamsky

Filipino Pride, Wesley Barbasa So, had just done the impossible and squeezed a win over veteran Gata Kamsky. The Filipino hero defied the odds as he displayed nerves of steal facing a World Championship Candidate who is renowned for expertise in match play format.

Kamsky,G (2695) - So,W (2640) [C11]
World Cup 2009 (3.1), 27.11.2009

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Qb6 8.a3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.Na4 Qa5+ 11.c3 Bxd4 12.Bxd4 Nxd4 13.Qxd4 b6 14.Be2 Ba6 15.Bd1 Qb5 16.b4 Rc8 17.Nb2 Qc6 18.Rc1 0–0 19.a4 Bc4 20.Bg4 Bb3 21.0–0 Bxa4 22.f5 Bb5 23.Rfe1 Rfe8 24.Re3 f6 25.fxe6 Nxe5 26.Bf5 g6 27.Bh3 Qd6 28.Rd1 Rcd8 29.Rd2 Qe7 30.Rf2 Nc6 31.Qd2 d4 32.Re4 dxc3 33.Qxc3 Rf8 34.g4 Rd6 35.Bg2 Ne5 36.g5 Rxe6 37.gxf6 Rfxf6 38.Rxf6 Qxf6 39.Re3 Bc6 40.Nd1 Qg5 41.Rg3 Qf4 42.Nf2 Bxg2 43.Kxg2 Nc4 44.Qd3 Ne3+ 45.Kg1 Nf5 46.Qd5 Qc1+ 47.Nd1 Kf7 48.Rc3 Qg5+ 49.Kf2 Qf4+ 50.Kg2 Qg4+ 51.Kf2 Qe2+ 52.Kg1 Qe1+ 53.Kg2 Kg7 0–1

Click here to replay the game.

RP team opens bid in World Chess Cup

RP team opens bid in World Chess Cup
abs-cbnNEWS.com 11/21/2009 8:03 PM

MANILA -- The World Chess Cup has officially begun, with three Filipino grandmasters (GM) Wesley So, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., and Darwin Laylo facing tough opponents in the first round of the competition’s knock out stage in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

The 16-year-old So will have GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan as his first opponent.

According to an on-line commentary of chess Website Red and White, Guseinov is one of the strong GMs from Azerbaijan. The commentary however said Guseinov is the “"unlucky" guy to face the So”.

If So succeeds in his first-round match, he will face either GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine or GM Alexei Bezgodov of Russia in the second round.

Antonio, meanwhile, will be the underdog against defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the US who topped the 2007 edition at the expense of Spanish GM Alexei Shirov.

Antonio first met Kamsky in the 2005 HB Global Challenge in Minneapolis, USA. The game, where Antonio employed his pet line caro-kann defense, ended in a draw.

Should Antonio pull an upset this time against Kamsky, he will face the winner between GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel and GM Zhou Weiqi of China in the second round.

Laylo, the third Filipino participant in the World chess Cup, will test the mettle of GM David Navara of Czech Republic.

The World Chess Cup, which has a total prize fund of $1.6 million, will run from November 20 to December 15.

By Marlon Bernardino
as of 11/21/2009 8:03 PM
Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.co

Corus Chess 2010

Word is out on the participants list in the 2010 edition of the Corus Wijk Aan Zee tournament

The 72nd Corus Chess 2010 tournament will be held from 15 January - 31 January 2010 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The winner of the event will qualify for the Grand Slam Final 2010.

Here are the participants lists.

Corus 2010

GM Viswanathan Anand, India
GM Magnus Carlsen, Norway
GM Vladimir Kramnik, Russia
GM Peter Leko, Hungary
GM Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukraine
GM Hikaru Nakamura, USA
GM Alexei Shirov, Spain
GM Sergey Karjakin, Russia (winner of Corus last year)
GM Leinier Dominguez Perez, Cuba
GM Nigel Short, England
GM Sergey Tiviakov, Netherlands
GM Fabiano Caruana, Italy (winner of Corus B)
GM Loek van Wely, Netherlands
GM Jan Smeets, Netherlands

Corus B

GM Ni Hua, China
GM Arkadij Naiditsch, Germany
GM Emil Sutovsky, Israel
GM Pentala Harikrishna, India
GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Romania
GM Wesley So, Philippines (winner of Corus C)
GM Varuzhan Akobian, USA
GM David Howell, England
GM Parimarjan Negi, India
GM Tomi Nyback, Finland
GM Erwin l’Ami, Netherlands
GM Dimitri Reinderman, Netherlands
GM Anish Giri, Netherlands
WGM Anna Muzychuk, Slovenia

Corus C

The complete list will be published soon.

On Wesley's upcoming World Chess Championship match

Wesley So will be facing Guseinov in the upcoming World Chess Championships. I believe, what Wesley needs here is stamina since match play /knock out system is the format with the best chess players around the world participating. Also i hope he can have a good second to assist him in his games which will also be a key in helping him prepare against his opponents. But then again, i am just a kibitzer who's understanding in chess is but of a fragment of knowledge compared to the lovely Susan Polgar...

Here is Susan's post in chessgames.com


Susan Polgar: SugarDom, the key for Wesley in this match is let the game / match come to him. Wesley has very little pressure.

Guseinov, on the other hand, is the one with a lot more pressure, especially after how the AZ team did in the recent European Team Championship. The expectation is much higher now. He is also the older player and has more experience. Let him take risky chances.

In addition, because of the format, Wesley also needs to brush up on his rapid / blitz chess. This is crucial as many matches, especially in later rounds, will be decided by rapid / blitz.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

Wesley Sos' Mother cry foul

Leny So, mother of Philippine's pride Wesley So, cried foul on Marlon Bernadino's press releases which are often collared with negative publicity. Personally, my sympathy on Wesley So's mom, a mother will always be a mother however this is also the price of fame, some are just their ready to hit when you are down.

Here is the full email from BW forum.

From: ELEANOR SO

To: marlon bernardino Sent: Sunday, November 1, 2009 17:55:33

Subject: Are you being paid?

Dear Sir Marlon,

I would like to inform you that I noticed that you always biased to Wesley in your sports write-up. You always used negative comments about my son. I always noticed that you always positively write about Mark Paragua.

Honestly, is this all about money? If yes, I am disappointed. I lost my respect to you.

Please stop making negative news about Wesley. Instead of supporting this kid, you verbally abused him psychology.

Hope you understand.
leny so

Chess vs college...is there a conflict

Here is Susan Polgar's comments on Wesley So's current crossroad which is to stay playing chess or pursue the career in chess...Wise words from Susan..simply put, why not have both..


Susan Polgar: Texas Tech scholarship would include tuition and housing expenses. Students will also be given the opportunity to make additional spending money by spending a few hours a week teaching chess at many local schools.

All our titled players are given the opportunity to compete in many strong tournaments throughout the year. In fact, we do pay for the expenses for the players to compete in some (not all) of these events. I also work with them personally.

My job is to dissect the players' game, then help them maximize their areas of strength, as well as improving areas of weaknesses.

If a player needs to represent their countries in various competition (national championships, Olympiad, world cup, etc.), they are free to do that. All they need is to make arrangements with their professors to make up the work / tests.

There have been many good examples of strong players doing both (Onischuk, Shulman, Dr. Kosashvili, Dr. Sherzer, and me, etc.)

I do not advocate strong players to give up chess for college. It is possible for serious players / students to do both.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

Happy Birthday Wesley

pics from susanpolgar.blogspot.com

Susan Polgar on Wesley So

Here is Susan Polgar's warm greetings to Wesley So fans in an online chess community. For sure Susan has an eye for talent and would definitely agree on what she said "Stick with this kid, he has a bright future"

Full page comment below:

Susan Polgar: It's an absolute pleasure to have Wesley and William here at the SPICE Cup in Lubbock and Texas Tech. They are wonderful people.

Playing in an open tournament and playing in a round robin/double round robin tournament is very different. It requires different approach, preparation, psychology, and training, etc. This is an important learning process for Wesley. Next time he will improve.

Wesley certainly got the respect from the big guys. No one will offer you a draw if they think they can beat you :)

I am sure this is not the last time we will hear about Wesley at the SPICE Cup.

One thing I hardly see from any other player is the support Wesley got from the Filipino community in the Philippines, in the US, in Texas, and around the world. There were people who drove I believe 5-6 hours to come and support Wesley and William. Stick with this kid, he has a bright future.

I will continue to update news about Filipinos players and Wesley on my blog and please feel free to send me any article that I may have missed.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

SPICE CUP 2009-ROUND 7 Live

SPICE CUP 2009 Rnd 3- LIVE! Wesley So vs Varuzhan Akobian,

Wesley So vs Varuzhan Akobian

Click on the arrow keys to play the game

SPICE Cup 2009-rnd 2 Standings, GM Hammer leads leads rnd 2

GM Hammer together with GM Andreikin lead the way with 1.5 points after earning the full point after round 2 . GM Hammer's employing the white pieces reap benefit from rare 8. Ne3 move which was considered a a rare line in the Slav Opening. Below is the game winning play of GM Jon:


[Event "Spice Cup 2009"]
[Site "Lubbock"]
[Date "2009.09.20"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Hammer, Jon Ludvig"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "2585"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackELO "2644"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8.Ne3 e6 9.a5 Nbd5 10.Nxf5 exf5 11.a6 b6 12.g3 Bb4 13.Bd2 O-O 14.Bg2 Qe7 15.O-O Rac8 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.e3 Rfd8 18.Bxb4 Nxb4 19.Qb3 c5 20.dxc5 Qxc5 21.Rfd1 g6 22.Bb7 Rxd1 23.Qxd1 Rc7 24.Qd8 Kg7 25.Rd1 h5 26.Rd6 Qc1 27.Rd1 Qc4 28.Rd6 Qc1 29.Kg2 Nc2 30.Qf6 Kh7 31.Rd8 Nxe3 32.fxe3 Rc2 33.Kh3 Qf1 34.Kh4 Qc4 35.Rd4 Rxh2 36.Kg5 Qc7 37.Qd6 f6 38.Kxf6 Qg7 39.Ke6 Qg8 40.Kd7 Rc2 41.Qe7 Kh6 42.Rd6 Rc5 43.Bc6 1-0

Standings After rnd 2- SPICE Cup 2009:

Group A
1-2. GM Andreikin, GM Hammer 1.5
3-4. GM Kuzubov, GM Mamedov 1.0
5-6. GM So, GM Akobian 0.5

Group B
1. IM Antal 2.0
2-3 IM Robson, IM Finegold 1.5
4-7. IM Papp, GM Bhat, IM Kuljasevic, GM Perelshteyn 1.0
8-9. GM Diamant, FM Rensch 0.5
10. IM Ippolito 0.0

SPICE CUP 2009 rnd 2-Hostilities resume

Hostilities resume at the prestigious SPICE Cup 2009 tourney. It is expected that again players would go out an all out win in today's round as round 1 was plagued with draws in A group division. Below is the2nd round group A and B pairings:

Sunday, September 20 / 2pm - Round 2 (Houston Texas Time)

A group

Mamedov - Kuzubov

Hammer - So

Akobian - Andreikin

Sunday, September 20 / 2pm - Round 2

B group

Kuljasevic - Diamant

Rensch - Antal

Perelshteyn - Papp

Ippolito - Robson

Bhat - Finegold

Link to live commentary by chessdom is here.

Spice Cup 2009- Wesley So Yuriy Kuzubov Face Off

GM Wesley So of the Philippines and GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine will face off in the1st round of SPICE CUP 2009. Whew cant wait for the coming fight. Best wishes to both players

Btw, I Created collage of both players pics and stats from FIDE website. Checkout below:



With Wesley So what would he be playing e4 or d4?

vs e4 how will Yuriy respond?

B22 Sicilian Alapin, B32 Sicilian, B36 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto, E11 Bogo Indian, B07 Pirc are potential answers.

vs d4 will Yuriy continue with his Queens Pawn Game or pull off an opening surprise here?

For those who wish to follow the Wesley So - Kuzubov game, it will be commented live by GM Dimitrov at Chessdom. Click this link to watch the game.

To Barangay Wesley Fans, lots of coffee is being brewed as games are 3am Sunday Manila time. Cheers to everyone!!!

SPICE CUP 2009 Pairings

Official Website http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2009/09/spice-cup-crosstable.htmlm already released the pairings for this Saturday's Spice Cup 2009. With such a strong field, huge following is expected with the Juniors battling it out for the championship crown. Chess Realm will keep up the phase in updating the chess results.

My bet here is the wonder boy from the Philippines, GM Wesley So. Should he be able to make a good run during the 1st half of the tourney , Wesley will sure have a good shot at the title.

Below is the tournament schedule in actual Texas Time.

Saturday, September 19 2pm- Round 1

Akobian - Mamedov

Andreikin - Hammer

So - Kuzubov

Sunday, September 20 2pm - Round 2

Mamedov - Kuzubov

Hammer - So

Akobian - Andreikin

Monday, September 21 2pm - Round 3

Andreikin - Mamedov

So - Akobian

Kuzubov - Hammer

Tuesday, September 22 2pm - Round 4

So - Mamedov

Kuzubov - Andreikin

Hammer - Akobian

Wednesday, September 23 2pm - Round 5

Mamedov - Hammer

Akobian - Kuzubov

Andreikin - So

Friday, September 25 2pm - Round 6

Mamedov - Akobian

Hammer - Andreikin

Kuzubov - So

Saturday, September 26 2pm - Round 7

Kuzubov - Mamedov

So - Hammer

Andreikin - Akobian

Sunday, September 27 2pm - Round 8

Mamedov - Andreikin

Akobian - So

Hammer - Kuzubov

Monday, September 28 2pm - Round 9

Mamedov - So

Andreikin - Kuzubov

Akobian - Hammer

Tuesday, September 29 2pm - Round 10

Hammer - Mamedov

Kuzubov - Akobian

So - Andreikin