So nears gold; RP remains in title hunt

Wesley So trounced fellow GM Eltaj Safarli as the Philippines held Azerbaijan to a 2-2 draw to remain in third place in the penultimate round of the World Under-16 Chess Olympiad in Mersin, Turkey Sunday.

It was So’s eight victory in nine games as the 14-year-old GM virtually clinched the individual gold medal on the top board for the second straight year with an impressive performance rating of 94.4 points. He also defeated Yang-fan Zhou in the Philippines’ 3-1 win over England in the eighth round.

With 24 points, the Philippines stayed two points behind Russia and one off India.

But with unfancied Izek-Turkey as its final round opponent, Team RP still has a chance to snatch the team gold with a sweep.

Russia bounced back from a stunning 1-3 loss to the Philippines in the seventh round with a pair of lopsided victories, 4-0 over Sri Lanka in the eighth round and 3.5-0.5 over host Turkey-A in the ninth round.

India, which beat the Philippines, 2.5-1.5, in the sixth round, also moved in contention with a 4-0 sweep of Switzerland-A.

Against Azerbaijan, the Philippines settled for a 2-2- count with So and Jan Garcia producing the victories over Safarli and Oglu Talishzada, respectively.