Wesley Continues His Supremacy in Battle of GMs Round 5

The 15-year-old high school student, who is seeking his second straight major title after winning the Barley Open rapid chess tournament at the Gateway Mall in Araneta last week, humbled Nolte in only 27 moves of the Slav in the fourth round late Thursday night.

After beating Nolte in Round 4, Wesley continues to show his supremacy by beating Jayson Gonzales. Jayson lost the game on time although had better position against Wesley. He proved just as deadly with the disadvantageous black pieces against Gonzales, essaying another convincing 51 -move triumph in yet another Slav Counting his victories over fellow GMs Buenaventura Villamayor, John Paul Gomez and Eugene Torre in the first three rounds, So has a perfect score of 10 points under the unique scoring system which gives two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero for a loss.

Here is the game:

[Event "Battle of GM"]
[Opening "Slav Defence"]
[Date "2009.03.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Jayson Gonzalez"]
[Black "Wesley So "]
[Result "0-1"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. Nh4 Be4 8. cxd5 Qxb3 9. axb3 Bxd5 10. Nxd5 cxd5 11. Bb5+ Nfd7 12. Bd2 Bd6 13. Ke2 Ke7 14. Rhc1 g5 15. Nf3 g4 16. Ne1 a6 17. Nd3 Nb6 18. Ba4 N8d7 19. Nc5 Rab8 20. Rc2 Rhc8 21. Rac1 Nf6 22. f3 Bxh2 23. Be1 gxf3+ 24. Kxf3 Bd6 25. Bh4 e5 26. Bxf6+ Kxf6 27. Nd7+ Nxd7 28. Rxc8 b5 29. Rxb8 e4+ 30. Ke2 Nxb8 31. Rc8 Ke7 32. Rh8 Nc6 33. Rxh7 Nb4 34. g4 bxa4 35. bxa4 a5 36. Kd2 Nd3 37. Kc2 Ne1+ 38. Kd1 Nf3 39. Ke2 Bb4 40. Rh5 Ke6 41. Rh6+ f6 42. Rh8 Ne1 43. Rh6 Kf7 44. Rh7+ Kg6 45. Rh5 Nd3 46. b3 Nc1+ 47. Kd1 Nxb3 48. Rxd5 Nd2 49. Rb5 Nc4 50. Ke2 Nb2 51. Rb8 Nxa4 52. Kf2 0-1

Next up for So is comebacking GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., who primed himself for the keenly-awaited sixth round showdown against young master by downing Gonzales in 62 moves of a Nimzowitsch in the fourth round and drawing with GM Darwin Laylo in 27 moves of the Nimzo Indian in the fifth round.

Buoyed by a successful campaign in the United States chess circuit, the fifth-seeded Antonio has two wins and three draws to move up to solo second place behind So with seven points.

Gomez and Laylo posted back-to-back draws to raise their score to six points and keep their slim hopes alive for the top prize of P200,000.

Gomez drew with GM Mark Paragua by repetition in only 15 moves of the English in the fourth round and IM Julio Catalino Sadorra in marathon 76 moves of the Queen's Gambit Accepted in the fifth round.