So deflates Russian, makes W Cup semis

MANILA, Philippines — Grandmaster Wesley So rolled into the semifinals of the FIDE World Chess Cup, beating Russian Vladimir Fedoseev in their second game in Tbilisi, Georgia Saturday night.

After splitting the point in their quarterfinal game, So went for all out for the win in their Petroff Defense game. He sacrificed a pawn to gain initiative and create attacking chances then methodically translated the slight edge to a resounding win after 83 moves.

So will next face Chinese Ding Liren, a 1.5-0.5 winner over Hungarian Richard Rapport in the other quarters matchup.

A victory over Ding will earn So an automatic berth in the Candidates Matches where he will have a chance to get a crack at reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen.

So has a 1-1-13 (win-loss-draw) result against Ding, who is currently ranked 11th in the world with a live rating of 2769.8 as against the former’s world No. 7 ranking and 2788.4 rating.