KHANTY-MANSIYSK, Russia – Grandmaster Wesley So completed his conquest of former world championship contender super GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, 1.5-.5, to advance to the third round of the 2009 World Chess Cup at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts here late Wednesday.

So, one of the most popular young players here, battled the sixth-seeded Ivanchuk (ELO 2739) to a fighting draw in the second of their two-game encounter to clinch victory in their knockout encounter.

The draw was all the 16-year-old Filipino champion needed to eliminate Ivanchuk. His feat set up an encounter against GM Gata Kamsky of the United States, a former child prodigy, in the round-of-32.

The Russian-born Kamsky was the same player who eliminated Rogelio Antonio Jr., in the first round and GM Zhou Weiqi of China in the second round.

A fourth-year high school student of St. Francis of Assisi College, So created a big stir last Tuesday when he pulled the rug from under Ivanchuk in the first game of the two-game series despite handling the black pieces.

The upset win over Ivanchuk, coupled with a similar impressive triumph over GM Gadir Guseinov of Azerbaijan in the first round enabled So to rewrite history as the first Filipino player to reach the third round.