So boots out Kamsky
SUSTAINING his brilliant form, Grandmaster Wesley So ousted former champion GM Gata Kamsky of the United States with a brilliant draw in the second game of their third-round battle in the 2009 World Chess Cup at the Khanty Mansiysk Festival of Arts Center in Russia.
Having beaten Kamsky in 53 moves in Game 1 despite playing black, So, 16, went into the match needing just a draw to advance to the fourth round and did just that, his brilliant play with white in the Leningrad Variation of the Dutch Defense forcing Kamsy, a former Russian, to halve the point after 42 moves.
With a 1.5-.5 win, So, ranked No. 59 in the tourney, advanced to the fourth round against either No. 22 Vladimir Malakhov of Russia (ELO 2706) or No. 11 Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine (ELO 2729) who split their third round match and will clash in deciding blitz games. So also assured himself of at least $25,000 and boosted his chances of advancing to the World Chess Championship in 2011.
"I played very well against Gata. I caught him at the opening and he spent a lot of time. I just hope that tomorrow I will be also lucky," said So, who is bidding to reach the magical ELO rating of 2700.
Kamsky (ELO 2695), a former world title challenger, was the latest chess giant toppled by So (ELO 2640) in the tournament that has lured some of the best chess players in the world. He eliminated World No.12 Super GM Vassily Ivanchuk (2739) in Round 2 after disposing of GM Gadir Guseinov in Round 1.
Kamsky played aggressively but it was So who wound up a pawn ahead after 19 moves. So slowly improved his position and nursed a small advantage in a two rooks with one bishop of opposite colors endgame.
On the 32nd move Kamsky’s rook was trapped along on the h-file after grabbing a pawn.
Also advancing to the fourth round were No. 7 seed Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, No. 13 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, No. 14 Alexie Shirov of Spain, No. 17 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and No. 28 Nikita Vitiugov of Russia.
Ponomariov ousted No. 26 Alexander Motylev of Russia 1.5-.5, Mamedyarov beat No. 20 Wang Hao of China 1.5-.5, Shirov humbled No. 19 Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia 1.5-.5, Lagrave beat No. 113 Yu Yangxi of China 1.5-.5, and Vitiugov trounced No. 69 Konstantin Sakaev of Russia 1.5-.5.