INQUIRER Sports

GAME 1 (Third Round)
Gata Kamsky, White;
Wesely So, Black
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 Qb6
8. a3 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bc5 10. Na4 Qa5+ 11. c3 Bxd4 12. Bxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4
b6 14. Be2 Ba6 15. Bd1 Qb5 16. b4 Rc8 17. Nb2 Qc6 18. Rc1 O-O 19. a4
Bc4 20. Bg4 Bb3 21. O-O Bxa4 22. f5 Bb5 23. Rfe1 Rfe8 24. Re3 f6 25.
fxe6 Nxe5 26. Bf5 g6 27. Bh3 Qd6 28. Rd1 Rcd8 29. Rd2 Qe7 30. Rf2 Nc6
31. Qd2 d4 32. Re4 dxc3 33. Qxc3 Rf8 34. g4 Rd6 35. Bg2 Ne5 36. g5
Rxe6 37. gxf6 Rfxf6 38. Rxf6 Qxf6 39. Re3 Bc6 40. Nd1 Qg5 41. Rg3 Qf4
42. Nf2 Bxg2 43. Kxg2 Nc4 44. Qd3 Ne3+ 45. Kg1 Nf5 46. Qd5 Qc1+ 47.
Nd1 Kf7 48. Rc3 Qg5+ 49. Kf2 Qf4+ 50. Kg2 Qg4+ 51. Kf2 Qe2+ 52. Kg1
Qe1+ 53. Kg2 Kg7 0-1

KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia?So far, so good.

Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So sustained his amazing run by stunning defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the United States in the opener of their third round World Chess Cup showdown Friday night at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts.

Duplicating his second round conquest of former world championship finalist Vassily Ivanchuk, the 16-year-old So handled black with precision and caught Kamsky by surprise in the early stages to prevail in 53 moves of a French defense.

When the end came, So, the youngest player still in contention, had a two-pawn advantage and was attacking Kamsky?s exposed king on g2 with his queen, rook and knight.

So, whose Elo rating of 2640 is sure to rise, needs only to draw with Kamsky, who lost to Anatoly Karpov in the 1997 World Championship, in the second game being played Saturday night to advance to the round of 16 of the knockout biennial tournament.

?I really played very well against him (Kamsky). I was prepared for the game. I caught him at the opening and he spent a lot of time,? So told the website of the World Chess Cup.

Familiar with the way the game was proceeding, So even refused a draw offer by Kamsky in the 18th move.

If the Russian-born Kamsky, top board player of the United States in the 2006 Turin and 2008 Dresden Chess Olympiads, manages to equalize with the black pieces, the match will go into rapid tiebreak matches on Sunday.

Earlier, So ousted GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan, 4-1, then sent Ivanchuk into retirement with a 1.5-.5 conquest in the second round.

Kamsky, on the other hand, eliminated Filipino GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., 1.5-.5, and Chinese GM Zhou Weiqi, 1.5-.5, respectively.

If he hurdles Kamsky, So will face the winner of the match between GM Pavel Eljanov (Elo 2729) of Ukraine and GM Vladimir Malakhov (Elo 2706) of Russia.

Eljanov and Malakhov drew the opener of their third round encounter.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines president Prospero ?Butch? Pichay said the worldwide attention that So is getting nowadays is hardly surprising considering that So has beaten super GM Ni Hua of China and drawn with super GMs Alexei Shirov of Spain and Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine last year.

NCFP secretary general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham ?Bambol? Tolentino said So?s pre-game preparations with Antonio and GM Darwin Laylo, also a first round casualty, give him a big psychological boost even against stronger players like Ivanchuk and Kamsky.