GM WESLEY SO IS 2009 CORUS CHAMPION
posted on : Wed Feb 04 2009, 06:32AM
by: Patrick Lee

Final standings:9.5 points – W. So (RP)8.5 – T. Persson (Sweden), A. Giri (Russia) 7.5 – D., Howell (England), A. Gupta (India) 6.5 – F. Holzke (Germany)6 -- D. Harika (India) 5.5 -- F. Nijboer (Netherlands), E. Iturrizaga (Venezulea), A. Bitalzadeh (Netherlands), M. Bosboom (Netherlands), R. Pruijssers (Netherlands)5 – M. Hoyos (Mexico)4.5 – O. Romanishin (Ukraine) WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands -- Mission accomplished for GM Wesley So of the Philippines.So capped another storybook campaign by winning the overall title in Group C in the 71st Corus Chess Tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre here Sunday.The 15-year-old Filipino champion, who made history by becoming the world's youngest GM during the Pichay Cup chess championship in Paranaque City in 2006, quickly drew with second seed GM David Howell of England to clinch the title with a 13-round total of 9.5 points out of a possible 13.Overall, So finished with seven wins, five draws and only one loss in his debut in one of the world's most prestiigious tournaments staged annually in this small seaside town in the province of North Holland.A high school student of St, Francis (Bacoor), So finished a full point ahead of GM Tiger Hillarp Persson of Sweden, who trounced IM Manuel Bosboom of the Netherlands, and GM-elect Anish Giri of Russia, who halved the point with WGM Dronavaili Harika of India.Howell, the seocnd highest-rated player here behind So, and GM Abhijit Gupta of India, shared fourth to fifth places with 7.5 points.GM Frank Holzke of Germany, who dealt So's only setback during the eighth round, clinched solo sixth place with 6.5 points.“Masayang-masaya po ako sa panalo kong ito ngayong bagong taon,” said So, who added the prestigious Corus trophy to the Dubai Open championship he won in United Arab Emirates last year.“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa lahat ng patuloy na sumusuporta sa akin, lalo na sa aking mga magulang na sina William at Leny So at kay (NCFP president) Butch Pichay,” added So.So, who is now ranked as the ninth highest junior player in the world with an ELO of 2627, won over GM Friso Nijober of the Netherlands in the first round, No. 8 seed GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela in the fifth round, No. 6 seed GM Manuel Leon Hoyos of Mexico in the sixth round, No. 14 IM Ali Bitalzadeh of the Netherlands in the ninth round, No. 12 seed IM Roeland Pruijssers of the Netherlands, Bosboom and Persson.He drew his matches against seventh seed GM Oleg Romanishin of Ukraine in the second round, No. 11 seed FM Anish Giri of Russia in the third round, fourth seed GM Abhijeet Gupta of India in the fourth round, WGFM Dronavaili Harika of India in the seventh round and Howell.Pichay and NCFP secretary-general Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino immediately congratulated So for his newest achievement in the international stage and vowed full support in his campaign to attain super GM status iwith ELO 2700 plus rating n the coming months.“Wesley's triumph is also the triumph for the Filipino people. The whole nation congratulates him for this newest accomplishment, which is a good source of pride and joy in this times,” said Pichay, who has already produced four GMs in less than three years in office.In the centerpiece Group A, GM Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine emerged as a the solo winner following a hard-earned tirumph over GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba.Karjakin, the same player who battled So to a draw during the Asian Club Cup in Al Ain, UAE late last year, finished with eight points.GMs Levon Aronian of Armenia, Teymour Radjabov of Uzbeistan and Sergey Movsesian of Slovakia shared second to fourth places with 7.5 points.Aronian drew with Jan Smeets of Netherlands, Radjabov halved the point with Daneil Stellwagen of Netherlands and Movsesian split the point with GM Gata Kamsky of the United States.World No. 4 GM Magnus Carlssen of Norway one of six players who shared the lead after the penultimate round, dropped out of contention when he bowed to GM Wang Yue of China.In group B, Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana overtook GM Nigel Short of England after the latter blundered in a winning position. Caruana's win left him on top of the Group B with 8.5 points.Three players -- Short, GM Alexander Motylev and GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov – sahred second to fourth with eight points.A total of 42 players divided into three groups saw action in this prestigious tournamenrt more popularly known as the Hoogovens tournament.Among the prominent winners were Max Euwe, Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, Jan Timman, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov. Anand is the only player to have won five titles of the Hoogovens/Corus chess tournament in its long history, although three of these were shared wins.The Indian champion also holds the record of most consecutive games played at this tournament without a loss (70) -- from 1998–2004. Euwe, Portisch and Korchnoi won Corus four times each.
RESULTS BY ROUNDRound 1 - Saturday the 17thT. Hillarp Persson - R. Pruijssers ½-½D. Howell - M. Bosboom 0-1F. Nijboer - W. So 0-1O. Romanishin - A. Bitalzadeh 1-0A. Giri - F. Holzke ½-½A. Gupta - D. Harika 0-1E. Iturrizaga - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0Round 2 - Sunday the 18thR. Pruijssers - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0D. Harika - E. Iturrizaga ½-½F. Holzke - A. Gupta 0-1A. Bitalzadeh - A. Giri ½-½W. So - O. Romanishin ½-½M. Bosboom - F. Nijboer 1-0T. Hillarp Persson - D. Howell 1-0Round 3 - Monday the 19thD. Howell - R. Pruijssers 1-0F. Nijboer - T. Hillarp Persson ½-½O. Romanishin - M. Bosboom ½-½A. Giri - W. So ½-½A. Gupta - A. Bitalzadeh 0-1E. Iturrizaga - F. Holzke 1-0M. Leon Hoyos - D. Harika 1-0Round 4 - Tuesday the 20thR. Pruijssers - D. Harika ½-½F. Holzke - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0A. Bitalzadeh - E. Iturrizaga 1-0W. So - A. Gupta ½-½M. Bosboom - A. Giri ½-½T. Hillarp Persson - O. Romanishin 1-0D. Howell - F. Nijboer 1-0Round 5 - Thursday the 22ndF. Nijboer - R. Pruijssers 1-0O. Romanishin - D. Howell 0-1A. Giri - T. Hillarp Persson 0-1A. Gupta - M. Bosboom 1-0E. Iturrizaga - W. So 0-1M. Leon Hoyos - A. Bitalzadeh 1-0D. Harika - F. Holzke ½-½Round 6 - Friday the 23rdR. Pruijssers - F. Holzke 0-1A. Bitalzadeh - D. Harika ½-½W. So - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0M. Bosboom - E. Iturrizaga 1-0T. Hillarp Persson - A. Gupta 0-1D. Howell - A. Giri ½-½F. Nijboer - O. Romanishin ½-½Round 7 - Saturday the 24thO. Romanishin - R. Pruijssers ½-½A. Giri - F. Nijboer ½-½A. Gupta - D. Howell 1-0E. Iturrizaga - T. Hillarp Persson 0-1M. Leon Hoyos - M. Bosboom 1-0D. Harika - W. So ½-½F. Holzke - A. Bitalzadeh ½-½Round 8 - Sunday the 25thR. Pruijssers - A. Bitalzadeh 1-0W. So - F. Holzke 0-1M. Bosboom - D. Harika ½-½T. Hillarp Persson - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0D. Howell - E. Iturrizaga 1-0F. Nijboer - A. Gupta 1-0O. Romanishin - A. Giri 0-1Round 9 - Tuesday the 27thA. Giri - R. Pruijssers 1-0A. Gupta - O. Romanishin 1-0E. Iturrizaga - F. Nijboer 1-0M. Leon Hoyos - D. Howell 0-1D. Harika - T. Hillarp Persson ½-½F. Holzke - M. Bosboom 1-0A. Bitalzadeh - W. So 0-1Round 10 - Wednesday the 28thR. Pruijssers - W. So 0-1M. Bosboom - A. Bitalzadeh 1-0T. Hillarp Persson - F. Holzke 1-0D. Howell - D. Harika 0-1F. Nijboer - M. Leon Hoyos 0-1O. Romanishin - E. Iturrizaga 0-1A. Giri - A. Gupta 1-0Round 11 - Friday the 30thA. Gupta - R. Pruijssers 0-1E. Iturrizaga - A. Giri 0-1M. Leon Hoyos - O. Romanishin 1-0D. Harika - F. Nijboer 0-1F. Holzke - D. Howell ½-½A. Bitalzadeh - T. Hillarp Persson 1-0W. So - M. Bosboom 1-0Round 12 - Saturday the 31stR. Pruijssers - M. Bosboom 1-0T. Hillarp Persson - W. So 0-1D. Howell - A. Bitalzadeh 1-0F. Nijboer - F. Holzke 1-0O. Romanishin - D. Harika 1-0A. Giri - M. Leon Hoyos 1-0A. Gupta - E. Iturrizaga 1-0Round 13 - Sunday the 1stE. Iturrizaga - R. Pruijssers 1-0M. Leon Hoyos - A. Gupta 0-1D. Harika - A. Giri ½-½F. Holzke - O. Romanishin ½-½A. Bitalzadeh - F. Nijboer 1-0W. So - D. Howell ½-½M. Bosboom - T. Hillarp Persson 0-1