MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So wielded the French Defense like a magical wand as he downed defending champion Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in a masterful 48-move victory to regain the solo lead after five rounds of the Capablanca Memorial 2014 at the Habana Riviera in La Havana, Cuba on Monday.
Playing black, So, 20, sacrificed two pawns in the old opening line of the French defense, castled queenside and engaged Almasi's dangerous pair of razor-sharp bishops against his galloping knights.
So gained the initiative and the advantage after his two-pawn battering ram at the center exploited Almasi's weak back rank with an e-file passed pawn that force the hand of the latter to give up a rook.
Almasi tried to force a draw either via perpetual check or promote his a-pawn to another queen but So found all the answers to secure his second win in this six-player tournament, which is using a double-round robin format, being done as tribute to the late great former Cuban World Champion Jose Raoul Capablanca.
In five rounds, the Webster U standout now has 3.5 points on a pair of draw, including one over Spanish Francisco Vallejo Pons in the second round and three draws to lead top seed Leinier Domiguez Perez of Cuba by half a point.
The win pushed So's current rating flew to 2740 from 2731 early this month, or three points away from barging into the world's Top 15.
More importantly, So is getting closer to topping this event where all but him won this tournament – Vasilly Ivanchuk (six times), Dominguez (thrice), Vallejo (once), Lazaro Bruzon Batista (once) and Almasi (once).