GM So sends GM Ivanchuk home; faces GM Kamsky in Round 3

I expected either a decisive game or a brutal drawn game in Round 2-Game 2 in 2009 World Cup between GM Wesley So and GM Vassily Ivanchuk. The latter expectation was it.

Indeed, these two hot-blooded chess stalwarts lived up to the expectation. One played an aggressive music while the other danced well to the tune.

One was the angry bull while the other played as the masterful matador. The bull gave its best shot, thrusting forward, circling around, fuming like a beast gone wild. But the matador elegantly danced off the aggression and stood unscathed until the end.

Unlike in Round 2-Game 1, however, the blood-hungry sword didn't get through the neck of the raging bull. Perhaps, the wild animal realized that he'd be mercilessly butchered for one misstep.

And so the two separated, one was to go home to feed on a green pasture while the other stood still to wait for another bull.

As I said in my previous post, the Round 2-Game 1 of Ivanchuk-So game belonged to Ivanchuk. To reiterate, it was Ivanchuk's game.

But I give Round 2-Game 2 to So. The honor, indeed, belonged to him this time. So played solidly and sharply - but still with the intent to kill.

After this big upset-win over Ivanchuk, So will advance to Round 3 with the needed confidence against very tough opponent in GM Gata Kamsky.

Again, the formula to win for Wesley is to use the same formula that brought him past Ivanchuk. The formula? Wesley must play as his self. Wesley must play as Wesley, nothing else.

Watch how So masterfully repelled the attack of Ivanchuk. Annotation done by EZZY, a kibitzer of Barangay Wesley at chessgames.com.