KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia – Even with an extra day off, there’s no rest day as far as GM Wesley So is concerned.

A day after his earth-shaking win over super GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the second round, So  prepared long and hard  before he returns to the war room for an all-important showdown against former child prodigy GM Gata Kamsky of the United States in the third round of the 2009 World Chess Cup at the Khanty-Mansiysk Centre of Arts here.

So, at 16 already the world’s strongest junior player with an ELO of 2640, will play two games against the 27th-seeded Kamsky (ELO 2695) – one with the white pieces and one with the black pieces — starting Friday.

If the match is still tied after two classical games, the two players will battle it out in the rapid and blitz tiebreak matches on Sunday.

So and Kamsky earned the right to meet each other in the third round after winning their first two assignments.

Aside from Ivanchuk, So also won over GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan, 4-1, in the first round. The Filipino split the first two matches against  the lower-rated but more-experienced Guseinov before sweeping the three rapid tiebreak matches to advance to the second round.

Kamsky, on the other hand, did his part well.

The Rusian-born American GM  showed the exit door to his two lower-ranked opponents – GM Rogelio Antonio Jr., 1.5-.5, in the first round and GM  Zhou Weiqi of China by  the score score, 1.5-.5.

Another upset win by So over Kamsky will send the fourth-year high school student of St. Francis  of Assisi College to the 16-player fourth round against the winner of the match between No. 11 seed GM Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine and No. 22 GM Vladimir Malakhov of Russia.

Eljanov (ELO  2729) slammed the door on GM Ernesto Inarkiev of Russia, 3.5-2.5, while Malakhov (ELO 2706) eliminated  GM Ilia Smirin of  Israel, 3.5-1.5.

Other possible  opponents for So include former world championship campaigners GMs Peter Svidler of Russia, Alexei Shirov of Spain, Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia and Arkadj Naiditsch of Germany. 

So’s compatriots, Antonio and  GM Darwin Laylo, have also decided to stay behind in this fast-growing  scenic town in Western Siberia to provide assistance to the young Filipino campaigner from Bacoor, Cavite.

Antonio lost to Kamsky, while Laylo bowed to GM David Navara of the Czech Republic in the first round.

“Go for it and make the country proud again,” said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay in a long-distance call to So.

Pichay, whose untiring leadership in the local chess association enabled So and six other players to earn their GM titles in a span of  less than four years, urged So to “keep his focus and continue to play well even against his more-experienced opponents.”

NCFP secretary-general and Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino also congratulated So and asked  his two much-older companions (Antonio and Laylo) to provide all the much-needed assistance in So’s preparation against Kamsky.

So played for Mayor Tolentino’s multi-awarded Tagaytay team in numerous local and international tournaments, including the Asian Chess Team Championship in Tehran, Iran and the Asian Club Championships in Al Ain, UAE.

Even the foreign media hailed So’s newest achievement in chess, calling his upset win over Ivanchuk a  stunning new development in the sport.

“Was the victory of this young fellow from the Philippines an accident or we will witness the birth of a new Carlsen? We will have an answer in three days,” proclaimed the official website of the World Chess Cup in its November 27 entry.

Carlsen is the world’s third youngest player to earn a GM title. The 18-year-old pride of Norway completed his GM title at age 13 years, four months and 27 days. (Tempo News)