GM Wesley So Versus GM Eljanov Pavel in the final round today

Source: Reykjavik Open 2013

It’s Wesley So and Eljanov Pavel in the last round. Both Grandmasters won their respective games and collected 7.5/9 points for a chance to take home the crown of the 28th Reykjavik Chess Open 2013 which currently held in Iceland, Harpa Concert Hall.

Wesley So with the white, chose to exchange his Queen for rook and Night to gain the initiative against GM Marcin Dziuba. It was a risky choice of game for GM So but he had proven his superiority that any slight advantage could be converted to win.

The good news after this win is that, Wesley So finally joins the elite 2700 plus Elo Rating and a history for the Philippine chess to have a player to break the Elo record.

GM Eljanov Pavel of Ukraine on the other hand, crushed the strong Chinese GM Ding Liren, who after some setbacks from previous rounds bounce back and shared the lead with 6 others before the result of this round.

Pairings in this round favors GM Eljanov Pavel with the white pieces against Wesley So, but if they split the point, other players with 7points may share the top spot.

Wesley So Shares the Lead with Anish Giri and 5 others after Round 6

Source: Reykjavik Open 2013

GM Wesley So shares the lead with 4.5 points and seven others including top seeds Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Yangyi Yu, Ivan Cheparinov and Gajewski Grzegorz after 6 round in Reykjavik Open 2013 which currently held in Harpa Concert Hall, Iceland.

With the win, So will finally play again against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave seeded #2 with Elo 2715. This will be their second match after SPICE event last year where So lost to Maxime. 

Obviously, Wesley So is not the favorite, but the chance of stealing the spotlight may come in surprise if he will emerge victorious as he fights neck to neck with GM Maxime today. 

Highlights from the Previous Rounds 

Round 2: So in black pieces easily turned the advantage on his favor and sealed the win with only  26 moves against IM Kislik Erik Andrew Elo2359 of USA.

Round 3: So with white pieces dictated the game steadily until on the 56 move. It was a clear win for GM So with his Night, controls the white squares which the black Bishop unable to stop the h3 pawn forward. 

Round 4: Draw against his Icelander opponent, who saw an opportunity to draw on 27th move, Rxc4 exchange to equalize the position.

Round 5: Probably one of the best games of Wesley So in the tournament where he played white against Yi Wei, a promising and rising star of China.

GM Wesley So joins this tournament in preparation for the World Cup with the guidance of his coach Susan Polgar. This is the first time that So joined in this prestigious event which according to the history of Iceland Chess, is the home of legends. GM Wesley So Live Rating: ELO 2693

Reykjavik Open 2013: Wesley So Wins the First Round

Reykjavik Open 2013 starts the first round with top seeds lead by Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, David Navara of Czech Republic and Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, outplayed their respective opponents.

Though, the big surprise of this round came when the fifth seed Ding Liren of China failed to score a full point from the slight advantage position against Sebastian Mihajlov of Norway.

The other Asian on board 7 has a better story, Wesley So of the Philippines who won against a lowly rated player from Sweden,  Fredrik Palmqvist. So, handling the white pieces took the early lead in the center and flawlessly maintained the tempo all throughout the game.

Round 2 is still a predictable result in favor for the top rated players since the ELO gap down the line is still far from close. 
More for Wesley So, he’s fresh from qualifying the World Cup in the Asian Zonal Chess last month and so close to 2700Elo. Though, this is not an easy task for the lone Filipino Grandmaster.

So will face an IM, with Elo2359 in the second round.

This tournament is currently held in Iceland from its beautiful venue in Harpa Concert Hall. The event will run from February 19 to February 27, 2013.

Chess Olympiad 2012: Philippines Battles Romania for an All Time High Olympiad Performance

USA Lost to China (Source: Chess Olympiad Istanbul Turkey)

Nearing the close of the 40^th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Turkey, Philippines settled a draw against Vietnam yesterday to improve its standing on 11^th spot.

It was a miss opportunity for the team to reach an all time high record when GM So and GM Paragua fell short to find a winning line from a favored position in the middle game.

GM Quang Liem Le grabbed this chance, when he saw an open diagonal line for his queen to sneak in the white’s king side to force a check repetition, while GM Paragua leaves no choice and give up a pawn advantage to guard the isolated pawn on the A5 file. All boards ended up a split point.

Philippine team needs a win to get into a possible magic ten spot in this round. Though, it’s a tough job for them to beat a stronger team such as Romania. But looking back in their previous matches against high rated teams namely: Armenia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Hungary and England, Team Philippines is favored in this match.

Meanwhile, Wesley So remains the only undefeated in the team after ten rounds and may still improve the individual performance if he’s going to win against GM Constantin Lupulesco on board one.

Tomorrow September 10, 2012 is the last round of the 40^th Chess Olympiad and three teams are vying for the gold medal: China, Armenia and Russia.

Chess Olympiad 2012: Philippines Lost to China but still Up in Standing

China Team Chess Olympiad Istanbul Turkey

China grabs the lead when they stop Philippines 3 ½ - ½ in the ninth round. And a win of the United States against number one seed Russia paves the way for the gold medals open to other top contenders.  It was a lucky break for the event to increase the intensity with two remaining rounds in the 40^th Chess Olympiad, Istanbul Turkey.

Chess Olympiad 2012: Philippines to Play Against China Today

40th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Turkey

Philippine Team demonstrates for the sixth times its strength against top seeded teams when they crushed again the 11^th seed England 3 – 1 yesterday in the 8^th round, at the 40^th Chess Olympiad Istanbul Turkey.

With the win, the Philippines is now behind the leader Russia, together with China, Armenia, USA and Germany with 13points a piece for second and six spot.

It was a good choice of the opening that gained GM Barbosa and GM Torre a slight positional advantage against its high rated opponents. Barbosa playing with white opted not to castle to keep the control of the center and the tempo until the exchange of major pieces and a marathon end game.

 Torre on the other hand, safely maneuvers the queen in the center and persuaded GM Nigel Short for the exchange.