So shocks Ivanchuk in 26 moves

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So surprised GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine with a sacrificial attack in the opening and went on to hack out a spectacular victory and firm up his title drive after eight rounds of the 77th Tata Steel Masters in Wijk an Zee, The Netherlands Sunday night.

So essayed a variation of the Marshall in their Ruy Lopez encounter that saw him give up a pawn first and later a knight to sustain a kingside attack that completely baffled Ivanchuk, who resigned after just 26 moves.

Despite the resounding win, So remained tied for second with French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Chinese GM Ding Liren at 5.5 points as GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway took the solo lead with six points with a victory over GM Baadur Jobava of Georgia.

But the victory shoved So to No. 6 in the world ranking a live rating of 2785.3, a career-best, overtaking Russian in Gm Vladimir Kramnik (2783), Armenian GM Levon Aronian (2781.5) and Dutch GM Anish Giri (2781.4).

So also remained the only unbeaten player in the elite field with three wins, the other two against Aronian and Jobava, and five draws, including against the top two highest-rated players in the world, Carlsen and Italian GM Fabiano Caruana.

Carlsen, the reigning world champion, eked out a 50-move victory against Jobava in their Irregular Opening game for his fifth straight win.

Vachier-Lagrave overpowered Giri in 33 moves of another Ruy Lopez duel while Ding dismantled Croatian GM Ivan Saric’s Slav Defense with a 34-move triumph.

But it was So who produced the biggest win in the day, upending the former World Challenger who led the tournament from the start before facing the talented Cavite-born former Webster University standout.

What made it more impressive was that So did the feat in quick fashion, dismantling Ivanchuk in less than two hours.