Wesley So in pre-quarters of Chess World Cup

Khanty Mansiysk Russia:

Young Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So continued his dream run with an upset victory over defending champion Gata Kamsky of United States to storm into the pre-quarterfinals of the World Chess Cup.

The super talent from Philippines nailed Kamsky in the first of the two-game mini-match and drew the second match to win 1.5-0.5 and make it to the last 16 of this super event that offers huge cash incentives to the winners.

While So was hogging the limelight, it was Hungarian Grandmaster Judith Polgar, the highest rated woman player ever, who caught the eye with her wonderful game against top seed Boris Gelfand of Israel.

Having lost the first game, Judit was in her elements in the return game as she sacrificed pawns at will to continue her attack in a modern luxurious game. Gelfand felt the heat as the game progressed and had everyone gasping for breath during the course of the game.

They will now battle out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.

Out of the sixteen matches in the round of 32, six got through to the next stage.

Alexei Shirov won his match against Evgeny Tomashevsky and entered the pre-quarterfinals.