Wesley So’s unbeaten mark now at 48 games

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So outplayed Loek van Wely in the fourth round of the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands Tuesday night, January 17, to extend his unbeaten streak to 48 games,

So won in 43 moves playing black against Van Wely’s Reti Opening. So sacrificed his rook to remove van Wely’s bishop which was guarding the queening square of his a-pawn.

“It is very hard to play for a win against black,” said So in a postgame interview with grandmaster Yasser Seirawan, who was doing commentary. 

One of the impressive facets of this game is that So outmanuvered van Wely in a queenless middlegame.

So has gone 48 games without a loss and is tied for second place with world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway with three points. They are trailing Pavel Eljanov of the Ukraine.

The tournament takes a break Wednesday, January 18. On Thursday, January 19, So meets Pentala Harikrishna of India, the former Asian champion. – Rappler.com