The young phenoms showdown

So, Karjakin draw match

Published : Friday, September 02, 2011 00:00

Written by : Ed Andaya

GM Wesley So of the Philippines is playing world-class chess again exactly the way he did in the 2009 World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

And this time, no less than top seed GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia is finding out how good and talented can he really become.

Exactly two years after shocking the world chess establishment with back-to-back victories over former world championship candidates GMs Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Gata Kamsky of the United States, So is now making chess life difficult for the top-seeded Karjakin.

So, who is widely-acknowledged as one of the world’s brightest young players, battled the highly-rated Karjakin into a fighting draw in their highly-anticipated two-game, second round encounter at the Ugorian Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk.

The surprising result sent Karjakin, the top seed in the 128-player field with an ELO of 2788, and So, seeded 64th with an ELO of 2658, into a two-game rapid tiebreak matches on Friday.

In case the score remains tied after the tiebreak matches, the two players will play two more games.

If necessary, they will play two more blitz games to detemrine the winner.

If the score is still tied, the two players will play a fifth game called ‘Armagedon’ to determine the winner.

The winner of the Karjakin-So showdown will advance to the third round, possibly against GM Judit Polgar of Hungary or GM Sergei Movsesian of Armenia.

Polgar, the world’ strongest female player in history with an ELO of 2699, and Movsesian, also drew their first game.

Like in their first game, So played almost flawlessly with white before drawing the game with Karjakin in 26 moves of the Nimzo-Indian.

So, who made it to the second round by eliminating No. 65 seed GM Liren Ding of China, opened with the d4.

Karjakin,who swept IM Medji Kaabi of Tunisia, 2-0, in the first round , countered with f6 and steered the match into a Nimzo Indian.

Full article here.