The Filipino prodigy, playing black in the Nimzo-Indian game, seized the initiative in move twenty-two forcing Spoelman to exchange his rook for a bishop to ease pressure on the d5 square.
So maneuvered his queen deep into Spoelman’s first rank, forcing an exchange of queens in the twenty-sixth turn to simplify the position and create a passed pawn.
Spoelman tried to use his bishops to block the d pawn from the queering square but So positioned his rook to create another passed pawn in the c file forcing the Dutchman to resign in 34 moves.
So is now on top of Group B with six points, half a point ahead of erstwhile leader GM Luke McShane of England. The group has an average ELO rating of 2659 or Category 17.
The Filipino champion agonized in the first four rounds as he settled for four straight draws before putting together this winning streak.
In the seventh round, So (ELO 2673) won against second seed GM David Navara (ELO 2708) of the Czech Republic. One round earlier, the Filipino champion defeated French GM Laurent Fressinet (ELO 2707), the third seed in the group.
The Filipino’s sting of victories started in Round 5 with a fine win over Indian GM Surya Ganguly.
The players take their second break today. When play resumes on January 25, So will play white against Chinese GM Li Chao in the ninth round as he tries to improve his fourth place finish in the same tournament last year.
In Round 10, So will play GM Vlad Takchiev of France, takes on GM Friso Nijboer of the Neherlands in Round 11, faces GM Luke McShane of England in Round 12, then duels top seed GM Radek Wojtaszek of Poland in the last round. (UPDATE: Wesley So lost to Li Chao in their Round 9 match but still remained on top of Group B standings after GM McShane settled for draw against GM Ludwig Hammer. So tries to get back on track as he takes on GM Nijboer of the Netherlands on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011.)
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