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Aug 20, 2010
WIJK aan Zee, Netherlands — After three straight draws, GM Wesley So of the Philippines stumbled to his first defeat against GM Ljujbomir Ljubojevic of Serbia in the 2010 NH Rising Stars vs Experience chess team championship at the Hotel Krasnaposky here last Sunday. So, at 16 already one of the world’s most recognizable young players, held his ground against Ljubojevic early in their fourthround match but overestimated his position and resigned after 32 moves.
Analysts covering the game claimed the Filipino champion ambitiously went for more with 15…Bxd4, allowing the
white-playing Serbian GM doubled dpawns.
Although So remained fine after the 15th move, he overestimated his position and allowed his queen be sidelined on
h3. Afterwards, So said he was unhappy about 23…a3 and thought that at this point he should have tried to bring back his knight into play with 23…N2c4. Even a queen sacrifice failed to bring any relief to So, who finally resigned on the 32nd move.
The defeat ended So’s three consecutive draws against GMs Peter Nielsen of Denmark, GM Peter Svidler of Russia and GM Boris Gelfand of Israel. So, however, was not the only player from the Rising Stars who lost Sunday. GM Hikaru Nakamura of the United States bowed to Svidler and GM Dawid Howell, who succumbed to Nielsen. GM Anish Giri averted a shutout for the Rising Stars when he outdueled GM Loek van Wely in an all-Dutch showdown.
Overall, Experience trounced Rising Stars, 3.5-1.5, to keep its hopes alive in the 10-round competition. The overall score after four rounds is now 11-9 in favor of the Rising Stars. At stake in this unique competition being organized by NH Hotel for the fourth straight year is 2,000 euro for the winning team and 1,000 euro for the losing side. In case of 25-25 tie, each player receives 1,500 euro. slugger whose previous Mexican victims include: Erik Ramirez and Manuel Vargas in 2009.
Nietes, who improved his ring record to 23-1-3 with 15 knockouts, said he would like to fight in his hometown Bacolod.
With his victory, the 28-yearold Nietes moved a win short of surpassing the second-longest tenured world boxing champion of Luisito Espinosa in local boxing. According to the examiner.com, the longest tenured world championship belt holder was Gabriel ‘Flash’ Elorde who was a world super featherweight champion from March 16, 1960-June 15, 1967.