Source: philboxing.com
-- The second game of the fourth round mini-match between GM Wesley So of the Philippines and GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia ended in a draw after 38 moves. Their first game also ended in a draw after 65 moves.
They will be playing their tie break rapid games on Wednesday and the winner will advance to the 5th round where there will be only eight players left in the running for the 2009 World Chess Cup.
GM Vladimir Malakhov played white in game 2 and opened with 1.Nf3 and GM So curiously transformed it into the Chebanenko variation of the Slav defense which is Malakhov's favorite. The game progressed into a struggle of the open a and b files with So doubling his rooks along the a file on his 15th move. But after subsequent exchanges the position was balanced after 19 moves. With the exchange of Queens on the 22nd move, So held a slight edge according to the analysis on chessdom.com. The fight shifted to the center in a rook + knight + bishop endgame. On the 34th move, So exchanged his knight for Malakhov’s bishop and avoided giving drawing chances to the 29 year old Russian but Malakhov still managed to keep the 16 year old So at bay.
The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009 is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from November 20th to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. There are now only 16 players left in the fourth round. The finals or seventh round consists of four games.
As for the players still in the event, the remaining field contains a mix of favorites and surprises, with the top three seeds still in the running. Here are the "sweet sixteen" matchups that are being contested in the fourth round:
* Boris Gelfand (#1 seed) vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (#17)
* Alexander Grischuk (#8) vs. Dmitry Jakovenko (#9)
* Viktor Laznicka (#61) vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (#13)
* Nikita Vitiugov (#28) vs. Sergey Karjakin (#12)
* Vugar Gashimov (#2 seed ) vs. Fabiano Caruana (#50)
* Ruslan Ponomariov (#7) vs. Etienne Bacrot (#23)
* Peter Svidler (#3) vs. Alexei Shirov (#14)
* Wesley So (#59) vs. Vladimir Malakhov (#22)
Source: Rene Bonsubre, Jr. philboxing.com
-- GM Wesley So of the Philippines and GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia drew the first game of their World Cup fourth round mini-match Monday evening (R.P. Time) in 65 moves.
GM So played white and opened with 1. d4 and GM Malakhov responded with the Slav defense. The game evolved into a positional struggle at the center. After the 18th move the battle shifted to the a and b files with So backing up his a pawn with his rook; his queen and other rook bearing down on the b file. With the center locked it seemed Malakhov was in a purely defensive mode.
Queens were exchanged on the 33rd move. The reached the endgame with five pawns and a rook each; So had a knight while Malakhov had a bishop. So had his rook on the seventh rank and Malakov’s bishop was blocked by his own pawn. So’s knight was well posted at d4 but was the small advantage enough to win?
So tried to manoeuvre so he could get Malakhov’s isolated d-pawn. But his miniscule advantage wasn’t enough and the game was drawn at the 65th move.
So will play the black pieces in Game 2.
The 16 year old So entered the tournament with an ELO rating of 2640. He earned his ticket to the World Cup by placing 2nd during Zone 3.3 Chess Championship which was held last July in Vietnam.
The 29 year old Malakov (ELO 2706) won the World Under-14 Championship in 1993. He placed 11th in the 2005 FIDE World Cup and joined the 2006 Candidates cycle.
In 2007 So became the youngest grandmaster in Philippines history at 14 years and one month old. Last August 2008, he won Board one gold during the World Youth Under 16 Chess Olympiad held in Turkey and lead the country to third place. In that tournament won by India, the Filipino youngsters beat chess powerhouses Russia (3-1) and England (3-1).
The FIDE World Chess Cup 2009 is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from November 20th to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. There are now only 16 players left in the fourth round. The finals or seventh round consists of four games.
The second game of their mini-match will be played Dec. 1 Tuesday evening (R.P. Time)
