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July 23, 2010
BIEL, Switzerland -GM Wesley So of the Philippines continued his remarkable showing in the 2010 Biel Young
Grandmasters chess championship, beating GM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel in 39 moves of the Gruenfeld in a thrilling,tensely-fought third round showdown Wednesday.
So, ranked 60th in the world with an ELO of 2674, exploited a shattering blunder by Rodshtein on the 38th move under severe time pressure and forced his older but lower-rated Israeli opponent (ELO 2609) to resign under a threat of mate in two moves. The 16-year-old Filipino champion from Bacoor, Cavite outwitted Rodshtein in a nerve-frazzling battle of attrition that lasted for almost four hours and sealed the win with a brilliant bishop sacrifice on the 38th move.
Rodshtein, who finished with 7/9 and 2776 performance rating in leading Israel to the silver medal in the 2008 World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, accepted the inevitable two moves later with less than 30 seconds on his clock. The end came with So threatening mate with his queen, rook and knight. The win – the second in three matches –enabled So to take the early lead with 2.5 points in the nine-round, closed tournament featuring the world’s leading junior players. Half a point behind So with two points are GMs Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of Italy. Tomashevsky, seeded second behind GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France with an ELO of 2708, drew with compatriot GM Dmitry Anddreikin, while Caruana, ranked third with ELO of 2697, outclassed GM Parimarjan Negi of India. Five other players, led by Vachier-Lagrave and GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands, are tied for fourth to eighths places with 1.5 points.
“Wesley is again doing us proud with his remarkable performance in Biel. Let’s hope he will continue to do so,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay. Pichay, who is bankrolling So’s international campaigns, said the Filipino is now in good position to win the title and improve his rating to ELO 2700. It was also the second time in three matches in this tournament serving as one of the highlights of the 43rd Biel International Chess Festival that So won with the disadvantageous black pieces.