Wesley So Wins Univé Tournament With Round to Spare

With one round to go it is clear who will win the 17th edition of the Univé Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands: Wesley So. The Pinoy grandmaster beat Loek van Wely in round 4 and then drew with Robin van Kampen in round 5 to reach a score of 4.0/5, 1.5 points more than Van Kampen and Michael Adams, who beat Van Wely on Friday. Maxim Roshtein leads the Open group with one round to go.

Photos © Lennart Ootes courtesy of the tournament website

After the rest day, Wesley So made a big step towards tournament victory as he beat Loek van Wely for the second time, whereas his closest rival Robin van Kampen "dropped" half a point against Mickey Adams. With two rounds to go, So was on 3.5 points and Van Kampen on 2.

Even though he hasn't played too much chess this year, Van Wely isn't the kind of person to shy away from complications or sharp variations. It's a risky strategy, and against So it was clear that he was not as well prepared as his 21 years younger opponent. Interestingly, this specific line of the Anti-Moscow Gambit was played more than once at the 2011 Amber tournament, but 18.dxc5 was not a successful novelty as Black quickly took over the initiative. After another big mistake on move 26 the position was already lost.

On the other board, Van Kampen again played like an experienced GM and it was Adams, behind the white pieces, who had to be careful. The Englishman even had to give up a pawn to avoid trouble. At the end Van Kampen missed a small chance for an advantage, as his opponent told him after the game.

The next day So sucessfully defended his game with Van Kampen to a draw, and thus secured tournament victory with a round to spare. It wasn't easy though; in the quiet 4.d3 Berlin of the Ruy Lopez, White kept an advantage from move 1 until move 40.

The problem was that when I finally got a tangible advantage, I didn't have enough time to really delve into the position,

said Van Kampen. 

So on Twitter:

@SusanPolgar Thanks Susan! Need to work harder to achieve more goals when I get back to St. Louis.

— Wesley So (@wesleySo93) October 25, 2013

Another good game for Van Kampen against So, who got the draw he needed

Van Wely's tournament became a real disaster after another loss in round 5. The Dutchman, who went down against Michael Adams, is on a disappointing 1.0/5 and in last place.

Friday should have been Judgement Day. Adams should have been punished for his ill-placed draw offer in our first game.

said Van Wely.

I didn't need to lose that ending. It was unpleasant, but not a forced win for him. He was just playing for tricks, and then... I fell for one. Tomorrow against Van Kampen I will have no mercy!

Tournament director Jeroen van den Berg doesn't mind moving the demo board pieces himself

A tough tournament for Loek van Wely

Univé 2013 | Crown Group | Round 5 standings

#	Name	Rtg	1	2	3	4	Pts	SB
1	So,Wesley	2706		1½	½	11	4.0/5
2	Van Kampen,Robin	2607	0½		1½	½	2.5/5	6.25
3	Adams,Michael	2753	½	0½		½1	2.5/5	4.75
4	Van Wely,Loek	2693	0	½	½0		1.0/5

In the open group Maxim Rodshtein of Israel is the sole leader with 7.0/8. In round 6 he drew with Erwin l'Ami rather quickly, and then he beat Michal Krasenkow:

Maxim Rodshtein

Another win followed in round 8, whereas Roshstein's main rival Viktor Moskalenko dropped half a point against Stewart Haslinger of England. The day before Moskalenko had made an end to what started as a very good tournament for Tania Sachdev of India:

Univé 2013 | Open Group | Round 8 standings (top 30)