GM Wesley So vs GM David Navara (ANNOTATED)

BY: BOBBY ANG

(As published in Chess Piece, BusinessWorld, 16 February 2011. This column was titled "Wesley So." Photo sourced from Tata Steel Chess website.)

73rd Tata Steel "B"
Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
Jan 14-30, 2011

Final Standings

(everybody is a GM)
1-2. Luke J McShane ENG 2664, David Navara CZE 2708, 8.5/13
3. Zahar Efimenko UKR 2701, 8.0/13
4-6. Wesley So PHI 2673, Le Quang Liem VIE 2664, Gabriel Sargissian ARM 2667, 7.5/13
7. Vladislav Tkachiev FRA 2636, 7.0/13
8. Radoslaw Wojtaszek POL 2726, 6.5/13
9-10. Li Chao CHN 2649, Laurent Fressinet FRA 2707, 6.0/13
11. Surya Shekhar Ganbuly IND 2651, 5.5/13
12. Wouter Spoelman NED 2547, 5.0/13
13. Jon Ludvig Hammer NOR 2647, 4.0/13
14. Friso Nijboer NED 2584, 3.5/13

Ave. Rating 2659 => Category 17
Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 50 moves then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds increment starting move 1

International Grandmasters Luke McShane (England, 27 years old) and David Navara (Czech Republic, 26 years old) tied for first in the 73rd Tata Steel Tournament "B" (formerly known as Corus Wijk aan Zee) and, although McShane was declared the winner on tie-break, both will be invited to the "A" tournament next year.

McShane was a child prodigy and considered England’s chess hope in the ’90s. He won the under-10 world championship when he was eight and became a grandmaster by 16 -- the youngest Englishman ever.

After several good results, however, Luke disappointed his fans by deciding to get a "normal" life. He entered Oxford University in 2003 and, after graduating in 2007, got a job at Goldman Sachs as a trader.

But when the chess bug bites, you stay bitten. He continued to play in the odd tournament and hit paydirt in December 2010 -- he tied for second place in the London Chess Classic Tournament which included Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. Under a scoring system of three points for a win, one for a draw and nil for a loss, McShane finished joint second with Anand, behind Carlsen, whom McShane had beaten in their individual game.

Undefeated, his event performance rating was 2838 -- higher than Carlsen’s or Anand’s. This second phenomenal performance can be considered a gigantic comeback.

David Navara, nicknamed the "Navara Express" by the Czech press, was no. 14 in the world in 2007 with an ELO rating of 2720, but his results have dipped since then. Hopefully, this tie for first in Tata "B" together with his victory in the 2010 Czech Championship with 8.5/9 is a sign that he is on the uptrend. His fighting and aggressive style is needed in elite tournaments.

By the way, Navara is known for his extreme modesty and politeness. Always immaculately dressed, while playing a game he would push back his chair and sit an arm’s length from the table so as not to disturb the opponent. Sound familiar? The great Akiba Rubinstein also used to do this.

But enough about the two! This is, after all, a Filipino publication and I am sure our readers are more interested in the performance of Wesley So.

Wesley took down four straight GMs in the middle rounds to grab the lead and up to the 11th (out of 13) round was still tied for first place, but a crucial loss to McShane dropped him down to fifth place. His fans probably were a bit disappointed, but they need not be. After all, Wesley was seeded fifth, so he finished exactly where he should.

Here, take a look at this dominating victory over one of the first placers.

So, Wesley (2673) -- Navara, David (2708) [D76]
73rd Tata Steel GMB Wijk aan Zee NED (7), 13.01.2011
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