Chess World Cup: On the contrary folks, Malakhov sends Wesley home

Although we personally had our doubts that Wesley So would even reached the semi finals even after beating the favorites of the world cup such as Ivanchuk and Kamsky in round 2 and 3, it still surprises us that So should received such a crude beating at the hands of Malakhov in the rapid tie break games, going down against the Russian, 0-3. So plays quite good in rapid, true. But perhaps, it was not Wesley himself, right? It's the man who defeated him, the ice cool Russian Vladimir Malakhov! We're all talking about experience against brute talent at the start of round 4 and we say Malakhov's experience, who reached the quarterfinal of this event in 2007, exhibits more profoundly in his playoff games against one of the most popular participant in chess world cup. I thought Wesley excel in tactics and opening preparation, so his opponent. But it was Malakhov's excellent time management and psychological gambit against the young So that proved to be decisive.

The world cup, in my opinion, is Wesley's greatest achievement by far since winning the tough Dubai Open two years ago when the then 14 years old boy bested out more than 30 Gms. Of course there was the Corus C but he was the top seeded there.

Nonetheless, Wesley will return home fully accomplished and deserves a hero's welcome making his legion of fans proud of the new found sports hero's dramatic run in world cup. Boy, he nearly sent Ivanchuk into premature retirement.

Notes posted on Susan Polgar's blog following Wesley So's defeat:

as I said before, Wesley has enormous natural talent. But unless he will improve his weaknesses and enhance his various areas of strength, he will have a hard time now that the elite players will seriously prepare when they play him.

Karjakin and Radjabov both faced similar problems in spite of their early success. They had to work hard to overcome "the wall". I do not want to go into details about his weaknesses in public for the obvious reason.

His success in the World Cup can be a both a good and bad thing. The good thing is he now knows that he can hold against the best of them. But the bad is he is no longer a "surprise" to the top players. So in order to consistently have success against top level opponents, he needs proper coaching and assistance.

Only Wesley can decide how far he wants to go in chess.

Best wishes,
Susan