Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Chess World Cup R2: Wesley So upsets Ivanchuk

It's a pity that there's no live coverage with grandmasters commentaries on the Ivanchuk-So match up. Wesley So just defeated one of the biggest name in chess today and the favorites to win the world cup, Vassily Ivanchuk (2739) in a stunner that shook the entire chess community. Highly regarded as the best player never won a championship, Ivanchuk is Wesley's biggest name in chess he has defeated by far, and he did it with black pieces! Peter Doggers of ChessVibes wrote the following in his blog after Wesley So's victory:

...Vassily Ivanchuk, the favourite to win this World Cup according to the ChessVibes visitors, against super-talent Wesley So. It seemed that the Ukrainian was totally outplaying his Pinoy opponent, but when he couldn’t find the knockout blow he should probably have taken the draw. Instead, in terrible timetrouble already, Chuky decided to play on but then lost in the ending.

Surely, big Chucky didn't expect Wesley to be this good. He won't spent much time a-thinking over Wesley's moves if they weren't worth the effort of every neurons in his brain. Wesley opted for the French this time that saw Ivanchuk chose the exchange variations. You can watch the replay of games with computer analysis at chessbomb-chessdom live arena which provides real time live games of the championship. Wesley So just needed a draw in their second game to finally moved on to the next round and look, white pieces he'll be handling. It would be quite interesting what would be the opening push Wesley will employ today. Will he go for the sweep? That is asking to much but who knows ;)

Chess World Cup official website

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