Maghami vs So in Aeroflot; will there be fireworks?

Based on chessgames.com's database, GM Wesley So, the No.1 chess player of the Philippines, had already met GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami of Iran over the board three times before. In that three games, GM So never won even a single game. In fact, he lost one and drew two.

First was during the Asian Individual Championship in September of 2007 in Cebu. Then IM So, whose rating was 2516, drew his game with long-established GM Maghami who was already parading a superGM rating of 2610, after a fighting 79-mover of a Najdorf.

Their second encounter was also a breathtaker, which resulted in the loss of GM So at the 2nd MAIG-Team Standard Chess in Macau in October of the same year. A 56-mover of a Catalan Opening proved too much for Wesley to handle, a game that seemed to pinpoint his weakness in a 1.d4 battle when handling Black.

Their third game was played at the Dubai Open in 2008. This time, however, no fireworks were seen over the board for the two agreed to a 20-mover draw.

There's fourth game, though, between So and Maghami that wasn't available at chessgames.com. It was the shorter 19-mover draw during their last round encounter at the 3rd Pichay Cup in December 2007 where So earned his third and final GM norm to clinch his full GM title.

Now, GM so and GM Maghami will face each other again in Round 1 of Aeroflot Open 2010 in Moscow, Russia. This time, however, So is in the upswing of his Elo rating campaign with 2656 while Maghami is in the downward trend at 2589.

To drum up their scheduled Round 1 match a bit, the Maghami-So game is a fight between two Numero Uno. Maghami at 2589 Elo rating is No.1 in Iran (No.51 chess country in the world) while So is also Numero Uno in the Philippines (No.31 in the world). Iran today has no 2600-rated player. In fact, only their top three players are rated 2500+.

Now, it's interesting to see if Maghami-So match-up is a game between "friendly" Asians or between real combatants.

Let's watch their previous encounters:
REQUIRES JAVA