So shocks Shirov in Sweden tiff

MALMO, Sweden – Asia’s newest star GM Wesley So of the Philippines shook the world chess establishment  again like a devastating magnitude 7 earthquake, pulling off a king-size upset win over former world championship candidate GM Alexei Shirov of Spain in the second round of the 19th annual Sigeman and Co. chess championship at the Hipp Theater here Friday.

So, the brightest and hottest star to come out of Asia since compatriot GM Eugene Torre in the 70s and world champion GM Viswanathan Anand of India in the 90s, made the most of a slight positional advantage with a good dark-squared bishop and exploited Shriov’s faulty continuation to come away with a stunning victory in 59 moves of the Slav.

The 17-year-odl Filipino champion, who rose to prominence by becoming  the world’s seventh youngest GM in history  during the 2007 Pichay Cup international chess championship in Manila, emerged from an exciting middle game skimish with an overwhelming advantage in an ending where he had a rook, bishop and five pawns against Shirov’s rook, bishop and three pawns.

So also had Shirov’s king dangerously out of place on g4 when the Latvian-born champion finally accepted the inevitable.

“Wesley was in total control right in the opening with his active bishop and rook controlling the d-file. Shirov was left with little options and just wait for the inevitable defeat,” Torre said in an interview.

“Masyadong restricted yung position ng itim and this prevented Shirov to display his tactical prowess. It was a good win for Wesley. Ganyan yung mga gusto kong panalo,” added Torre, who remains as the most recognizable Filipino player since earning his GM title in 1974.

The win enabled So to share the early lead with defending champion GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands and GM Hans Tikkanen of Sweden in this prestigious, six-player competition sponsored by Swedish law firm Sigeman and Co.

Giri followed up a well-fought draw with So during the opening round by trouncing GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden in 42 moves of the English opening, while Tikkanen split the point with GM Jonny Hector in 66 moves of the Sicilian Paulsen in an all-Swedesh affair.

So’s smashing triumph over the highly-rated Shriov (ELO 2701) rivals that of his similar impressive upset victories over GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Gata Kamsky of the United States in the 2009 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia..

It also marked the first time that So had beaten the 39-year-old Shirov, who  is best remembered for his title duel with Anand in the 2000 FIDE world championship final. The two players fought to a pair of hard-earned draws during the 2008 and 2010 Olympiads

In the third round, So plays black against Tikkanen in an early battle of leaders. Shriov will meet  Giri while Grandelius will test Hector.

It will be against Grandelius, Shirov against Tikkanen and Giri against Hector in the fourth round.

The five-round tournament concludes with Tikkanen against Giri, Grandelius against Shirov and Hector against So in the final round..

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay lauded So’s newest achievement  and urged him to tocntinue to play well to bring more honors to the country.

Now on its 19th year, the Sigeman tournament was won by 15 different players fromall over the world.

GM Ferdinand  Hellers of the Netherlands holds the distinction as the only three-time winner of the tournament, winning the title in the inaugural edition in 1993  and defending it in 1994. He won for the third time in 1997.

Former world championship contender GM Nigel Short of England won the title twice in 2002 and 2009.

Other past Sigeman champions were GM Tiger Hillarp Person (2008), GM Ivan Cheparinov (2007), GM Jan Timman (2006), Krishnan Sasikiran (2005), GM  Peter Heine Nielsen (2004), GM Vassily Ivanchuk (2003), GM Boris Gulko (2001), Judit Polgar (2000), GM Boris Gelfand (1999), GM  Joel Lautier ( 1998), Viktor Kochnoi (1996), and GM Ivan Sokolov (1995).

Last year, Giri topped the competition.