Russian GM ends Wesley's amazing run

KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia – Young Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So’s storied streak in the 2009 World Chess Cup came to an end Wednesday.

So, dubbed by the foreign chess media here as the “biggest sensation in the tournament,” lost all his three rapid tiebreak matches to GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia in their fourth round showdown and bowed out of contention at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts.

The 16-year-old Filipino champion, whose strong positional games during the prestigious, 128-player competition earned him comparison with former world champion Anatoly Karpov, failed to shake off the older and more-experienced Malakhov in the first two classical games like what he did in stunning former world championship finalist GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and defending champion GM Gata Kamsky of the United States in the earlier rounds.

Slowed down by two hard-fought draws in their classical games, So was forced to battle it out with the 22nd-seeded Malakhov (ELO 2706) in rapid tiebreak stage. But the Filipino, who was once quoted by foreign journalists here that he prefers to play tiebreaks, could “not oversee that Malakhov feels completely at home in rapid.”

The final score: 4-1 for Malakhov.

Despite his failure to reach the final eight, So earned US$30,000 (about P1.46 million) in prize money by reaching the round-of-16.

“Children’s time is over. Goodbye young talents. Your Khanty-Mansiysk fairy tale is over,” said the official World Cup website in its Dec. 3 entry.

Aside from So, the two other remaining young talents – GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy and Maxim Vachier-Lagrave of France – were also eliminated by their more experienced Russian rivals.

Caruana, who played against GM Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan, could not stand up the extra class performance of his opponent (although he had a winning position in the second game of the match) and could not control the situation after his first defeat in the rapid game.

Vachier-Lagrave had a brilliant match against top seed Boris Gelfand, but could not cope with him in the blitz game.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay, who has been supporting So’s international campaign since 2006, said So did his best against Malakhov in their rapid tiebreak matches.

“Even if he (Wesley) did not make it to the quarterfinal phase, he already made the country proud with his achievements,” said Pichay, who even asked GMs Rogelio Antonio Jr. and Darwin Laylo to stay and help So in his pressure-packed matches held in this winter paradise in Western Siberia.

Pichay asked NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and executive director Willie Abalos to prepare a fitting welcome for So and his two companions when they return to the country.

Also making it to the last eight are GM Dmityr Jakovenko of Russia, who slammed the door on compatriot GM Alexander Grischuk, 5-3; and GM Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, who showed the door on GM Etienne Bacrot of France, 3.5-2.5.

Already in the quarterfinals are GM Peter Svidler of Russia, who eliminated GM Alexei Shirov of Spain, 1.5-.5; GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, who ousted GM Viktor Laznicka of the Cezch Republic, 1.5-.5; and GM Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, who dumped GM Nikita Vitiugov of Russia, 1.5-.5.

The quarterfinal games will pit Gelfand against Jakovenko, Gashimov against Ponomariov, Svidler against Malakhov and Mamedyarov against Karjakin.