World Cup: So gets going against lowly GM

WESLEY So is favored to advance, but fellow Filipino grandmasters Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua have to hurdle big obstacles in the first round of the 2013 World Chess Cup on Aug. 11 in Tromso, Norway.

Benefiting from his lofty Elo rating of 2708, So battles Ukraine-born GM Alexander Ipatov, who has a lowly Elo of 2583.

Making his initial World Cup appearance, Barbosa faces Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem, the reigning world blitz champion with a 2702 Elo.

Paragua, on the other hand, tangles with Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko, the 2012 European champion with a 2724 ELo, in his fourth crack in the biennial event.

On a roll since entering Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, as a business finance freshman, the 19-year-old So topped the Calgary International Chess Classic in May, swept the Las Vegas International Chess Festival in June and then gave the Philippines its first gold in the Summer Universiade held in Kazan, Russia, last month.

It will be the third straight World Cup for So, who barged into the round of 16 in the 2009 edition and made the second round of the 2011 event. Roy Luarca