Wesley slips to 3rd, bows to Onischuk

MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So bowed to GM Alexander Onischuk of the US and dropped to joint third in the 2010 SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) Championship at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas Thursday.

So missed the right continuation in a slambang middle game skirmish against the higher-rated and veteran Onischuk and resigned after 32 moves of the Capablanca variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defense.

It was So’s second loss in his last three games, dampening the Filipino champion’s chances in the Category 16 tournament.

So had a rook and six pawns against Onischuk’s two bishops and five pawns at the endgame. But the latter was set to gobble up So’s queenside pawns and push his unstoppable a-pawn to the sixth rank for promotion when the Filipino bet resigned.

The loss left the 17-year-old Filipino champion in a two-way tie for third with top seed GM Zoltan Almasi of Hungary with eight points.

GM George Meier of Germany defeated GM Ray Robson of the US in another crucial encounter to pull away with 14 points.

The win moved Onischuk to solo second with 11 points.

Almasi halved the point with GM Eugene Perelshteyn of the US in the other match.