Wesley So gets solo lead of World Junior Chess

Grandmaster-candidate Wesley So of the Philippines gave himself a gift on Monday, the eve of his birthday, at the 2007 World Junior Chess Championship at the Tigran Petrosian Chess House Monday in Yerevan, Armenia. He beat No. 15 GM David Howell of England and grabbed the solo lead of the tournament after five rounds. According to a statement of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP), So, who turns 14 years old Tuesday, took 37 moves of a Four Knights Opening to beat Howell (ELO 2527) to raise his total to 4.5 points after five rounds. "Magandang regalo ito para sa akin," So said in an e-mail sent through his father-manager, William. "Matagal pa po ang laban pero magandang simula ito." The 13th-seeded Filipino champion, who hopes to become the country's second GM in less than a month, pounced on a passive knight move by Howell on the 14th move and seized control in the middle game. The tough 13-round tournament attracted 80 of the world's top players 18 years old and under. In the fourth round on Sunday, So had to settle for a draw with third seed GM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel. In the sixth round Tuesday, So will play black against No.9 GM Georg Meier of Germany, who drew his match against Rodshtein of Israel after 27 moves of a Caro Kann Defense. So's other victims in the prestigious tournament were No. 55 seed Emilis Pileckis (ELO 2349) of Lithuania in the first round, No. 37 FM Krzysztof Bulski (ELO 2421) of Poland in the second round and No. 63 seed Tigran Mamikonian of Armenia in the third round. National women's junior champion Aices Salvador duplicated So's fifth-round triumph, beating No. 41 WFM Ruth Lovece of Argentina and moving up with two points on two wins and three losses. Salvador, a 17-year-old business management student of De La Salle University, dropped her fourth-round assignment to No. 32 Anahit Kharatyan of Armenia. Salvador won over No. 31 seed Ghazal Hakimifard (ELO 2102) of Iran in the second round but lost to No. 19 WFM Sarah Hoolt (ELO 2199) of Germany in the first round and Haritomeni Markantonaki of Greece in the third round. The Filipina's next assignment is against No. 34 Ani Darbinyan of Armenia. Standings after five rounds 4.5 points W. So (RP) 4 points D. Stellwagen (Netherlands), M. Rodshtein (Israel), G. Meier (Germany), I. Popov (Russa), A. Adly (Egypt), H. Melkunyan (Armenia) 3.5 points H. Wang (China), D. Andreikin (Russia), G. N. Gopal (India), A. Grigorian (Armenia), E. Romanov (Russia), C. Deepan (India), B. Amin (Egypt), J. Ashwin (India), D. Howell (England), P. Gracia (Chile)

- GMANews.TV