Vital loss to Russian imperils So’s W Cup bid

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So lost in a slambang Gruenfeld encounter with Russian GM Evgeny Tomashevsky and found himself on the brink of elimination in the World Chess Cup in Tromso, Norway Wednesday night.

So tried to squeeze out a win from a drawn position and paid dearly for it, as Tomashevsky came through with precise moves to foil the Filipino champion, who resigned on the 51st with the Russian’s center pawn on the verge of promotion.

After a one-day rest following a 1.5-.5 dispatching of Ukrainian-born Alexander Ipatov of Turkey in the opening round, So found a way to trap Tomashavsky’s rook on the queenside but ended up giving up three pawns and a bishop plus the initiative instead.

Tomashevsky, the 2009 European champion and part of the Russian team that clinched the gold in the World Team Championship the same year, outplayed the reigning Universiade gold medalist in an ensuing tactical scuffle that ended with a pair of connected unstoppable passed pawns on the center files.

The defeat thus gave So with no other choice but to win their second and final game, being played at press time, with the white pieces to force a tie and a two-game tiebreaker with lesser time control.

A draw will send So packing and go the way compatriots Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua went after the duo lost their first round matches to Vietnamese Le Quang Liem and Russian Dimitry Jakovenko, respectively.

So, who plays for Susan Polgar-mentored US NCAA Division I Webster U, is seeking to better his fourth round finish four years ago that included victories over former world challenger Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and many-time US team’s top board Olympiad player Gata Kamsky. He, however, lost to Russian Vladimir Malakov.

In the last edition two years ago, So also made it to the second round before losing to another Russian Sergey Kariakin in a second round tiebreaker.

Tomashevsky benefitted from his daring opening move of castling on the queenside to save time and sustain the initiative.

So captured back the material he lost in the opening skirmish as he pounced on a helpless pawn on a3, leaving him with connected central passed pawns to worry about.

Instead of trying to defend his back rank, So employed a double rook attack, only to be neutralized by Tomashevshky deft maneuverings.

So’s aggressiveness backfired as he was forced to resign on the 51st as Tomashevsky kept the Filipinos’ rooks out of play to pave the way for his pawn promotion.