Thursday, November 26, 2009

Chess World Cup, round 2: Wesley So lays out Ivanchuk

Many thought that Vassily Ivanchuk will go berserk in the second game of his first round 1 match with Wesley So. Ivanchuk has a lot of pride in him as a chess player but it looks like he plays quite tentatively in game 2. Perhaps nerves got into him again. As a result, Wesley So held on to his lead and win their match up, 1.5 - 0.5, resulting in one of the biggest upset in 2009 Chess World Cup and the biggest single match victory for the 16 year old So by far. Wesley So will have the Chess World Cup defending champion and Rogelio Antonio round 1 tormentor, Gata Kamsky in the third round. Some notes from Susan Polgar about Wesley's win against Ivanchuk.

The more games the talented Wesley plays against world class opponents, the better and more confident he gets. After losing to Guisenov in the second game of his first round match, he reeled off 3 straight wins in the rapid playoff to advance to the second round. Then he went on to pull off the biggest upset of the 2009 World Cup so far by beating Ivanchuk 1.5-0.5. Well done Wesley! With proper training, experience, and opportunity, I have no doubt that he will be an elite player for years to come.

The So-Kamsky round 3 duel will be available with live grandmaster commentary courtesy of GM Christian Bauer through Chessdom. We would like to say our thanks to our friends over there at chessdom for continually sending us the information every now and then.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like what you're writing here. you're not biased with Wesley So among others. I was already dead sick on reading in many chess sites, forum and blog about the bragging of Wesley So fans and his achievement, especially about his win with Ivanchuk. Mga Pilipino nga tayo. sobrang yayabang sa konting achievements lang. Okay na yung e-congratulate natin si Wes pero yung iba kung disrespetuhin si Ivanchuk at yung mga natatalo nya, e di na maganda sa paningin ng ibang lahi. Nakakahuya na tayo na puro tayo ganyan.

Des Catolos said...

I'm actually secretly biased with Wesley, I guess you know what mean :)

Andrade said...

So has all the bragging rights in the world. He just defeated the mighty Ivanchuk. Ivanchuk should give more credit with So's victory I should say although I beleive that Ivanchuk committed a lot of mistakes in their game. A very unsual for the caliber of his.

Anonymous said...

In the first game all went ok, I was about to win. I was almost sure that I am winning!

My opponent, by the way, played very badly...

http://ugra-chess.ru/eng/interv_10.htm

The Chess Connoisseur said...

What is the big fuzz about it? It was only a two-game mini-match. Anything can happen in just a couple of games.

Just because Ivanchuk disdained the perpetual in the first game with Wesley that led to his lost some of us are criticizing Ivanchuk and praising Wesley to high heavens. Still that doesn't prove that the latter is the better player (and Wesley himself admitted that he was simply lucky).

As for Ivanchuk, he has played the best world chess can offer and has beaten them at one time or another; similarly, he suffered uncharacteristic losses against relatively unknown and/or weaker rivals. Recall his elimiation by Romanian GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in FIDE knockout eliminator for the World Championship, then an unheralded grandmaster but now the undisputed number one and an elite player of Romania?

Don't be so narrow-minded. It was only a sporting result, 1.5-0.5. This is not intended to belittle So's achievement. It is simply a matter of putting things in proper perspective.

Capablanca once said "good players are always lucky." Definitely, Wesley So is a very good chess player.

All Filipinos should be proud of what Wesley has achieved so far and have all the reasons to rejoice. Let us stay there and don't get overboard and start bashing up his defeated rivals. I honestly believe, he is going to reap more laurels for himself and the Philippines in the future.

Look! Wesley remains humble with his very own achievements; who are we to crow and boast about it?

-http://chessconnoisseur.blogspot.com