Chess prodigy So slips to second spot in Corus tilt
01/26/2009 06:51 PM
MANILA, Philippines – Top seed Grandmaster Wesley So of the Philippines came stumbling down from the top of the 71st Corus Chess Tournament with a shocking defeat at the hands of lower-ranked GM Frank Holzke of Germany on Sunday.
The eighth-round defeat relegated So down to second spot with five points based on three wins, four draws and a single loss in Group C of the tournament held at De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
So is now a full point behind his former co-leader GM Tiger Hillarp Persson of Sweden, who downed GM Manuel Leon Hoyos of Mexico to gain the solo lead.
So gave up a knight in the end-game cost him the match as the 15-year old Filipino chess prodigy was forced to resign.
So, however, remains half a point ahead of third placers GM David Howell (No.2) of England, IM Manuel Bosboom of the Netherlands and GM Abhiit Gupta of India.
The Cavite-based So will meet No. 14 seed IM Ali Bitalzadeh of host The Netherlands in the ninth round with hopes of recovering from that upset loss. – GMANews.TV
Go Wesley! I have your 5 Pesos!
You mean 12.8 million pesos?
Your old brain is fading Campo.
Hope Wesley So’s nerves are not unraveling at this stage of the tournament.
It is So [pardon] tough to maintain the no. 1 spot in the tournament. Everyone is gunning after you.
We’ll see [pardon] how Wesley does the next couple of rounds.
A nice win now should tide him over to get the impetus for the later rounds.
Wesley still has to play Howell and of course Tiger. This will be his test of fire if he is a Corus C or B or even an A 2700 wannabe.
Wesley is trained by amateurs. Not even with good ratings.What did you expect??
So’s high rating was probably due to good results against 2700+ and 2600+ players in the last Olympiad. He’s got good fundamentals. His loss the other day was just due to recklessness, which even world champions exhibit from time to time. Fischer (in one game of the 1972 championship match) grabbed a pawn and got his bishop trapped.
He made a dumb mistake, people! Come on. Get serious. He’s still a phenomenal talent. Win or lose, that doesn’t change. At this point, I’m most concerned that this young man grows up to be a well adjusted adult.
And to the guy who said Wesley got his rating by beating Pinoys who gave him points for free. Please! Engage brain before putting mouth in gear, ok?