GM So makes history, breaks 2700 Elo barrier

THE Filipino champion went for a queen sacrifice in exchange for a rook and bishop. The position was very sharp and So claimed a winning advantage with an exchange sacrifice. A nice final sequence finished in checkmate on move 41 of their Caro-kann defense encounter.

According to National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero Pichay Jr., So’s win over the Polish GM allowed the 19-year-old US scholar to make history as the first ever Filipino player to breach the 2700 Elo barrier.

“Wesley’s current live rating is 2701.4 after the win over GM Dziuba,” said Pichay, who watched the game live on the internet.

So’s Rating Performance going to the 10th and final round where he will meet GM Pavel Eljanov, is 2768.

Eljanov, meanwhile, beat GM Ding after 22 moves to keep pace with So with identical 7.5 points.

Eljanov will have the advantageous white pieces on Thursday against So when they play for the coveted title in the 10-round Swiss-System event which offers 5,000 euros to the winner and 2,000 euros to the runner-up.

Meanwhile, chasing the two leaders with 7.0 points are GM Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland, GM Anish Giri of The Netherlands, GM Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, IM Wei Yi of China, GM Gawain Jones of England and GM Bassem Amin of Egypt.

The tournament serves as So’s build up for the 2013 World Chess Cup scheduled on Aug. 10 to Sept. 5 in Tromso, Norway where he will be joined by fellow GM Oliver Barbosa. /correspondent Marlon Bernardino