Fighting with a major disadvantage

In the second round of the just-concluded FIDE World Cup Wesley So was eliminated by GM Sergey Karjakin 1.5-2.5. They drew the two standard games and went into rapid tie-breaks, where Wesley So fell to a nifty piece of opening preparation.

What is the role of a second in chess competition? Way back in 1999 the now-defunct Philippine Chess Federation (PCF) appointed your humble scribe as the Chief Second of GM Joey Antonio to the FIDE Las Vegas World Championship. My brother asked me then what use did GM Joey have for me, since he was obviously a very much stronger player, something of the magnitude of a 100:1.

The second has two jobs: first is to prepare his player against the opponents that he will be facing in the tournament. He should go over all the games of the opposing player, even those played in the Internet chess servers, and try to work out a battle plan to adopt.

The second job is to prepare his player “in general,” i.e., preparation without a specific opponent in mind. This might be to research on what latest innovations there have been involving your opening repertoire, or perhaps even sharpen your openings with a juicy novelty or two. During the competition the second is supposed to look at what is going on during the tournament and what everybody else is playing.

This was where GM Wesley’s lack of a second told heavily. In the first round of the World Cup GM Alexander Motylev (2001 Russian Champion) and GM Yuriy Drozdovskij (Ukrainian national team member) fought a dour struggle which saw them battle all the way to the armageddon finish (nine games all in all) where the Ukrainian finally prevailed. Motylev was hastily recruited into the team of Sergey Karjakin as one of his seconds.

Motylev made an immediate contribution — he showed Karjakin a strong novelty he used in the Caro-Kann against Drovdovskij which although did not lead to a win had to be treated carefully. That exact variation came up against Wesley So.

More here.