Wesley So’s struggles continue at Sinquefield Cup

MANILA, Philippines – There is nothing going right for Wesley So. 

The Philippine-born grandmaster, now playing for the United States in the year’s strongest chess tournament, rolled to his fourth loss which was another brilliancy in the cap of Hikaru Nakamura. 

So has 1.5 points and is in the cellar at the 10-man Sinquefield Cup, where a lot of the world’s top 10 players are competing. At cyberspace, jivepar at chessbomb.com said: “So is on the wrong end of every brilliancy played so far” after Nakamura sacrificed piece after piece to checkmate So’s king in 39 King’s Indian Defense 

From Monday 2 am in Manila until Wednesday morning, So will be playing two former world champions and a one-time world number two. This led Swedish grandmaster Jan Gustafson to tweet: “Wesley So’s last three Sinquefield Cup games will be the bloodiest trilogy since The Godfather.” 

Gustafson was echoing an old saw that any cellar-dweller in a strong tournament will be like carrion for any vulture. Unless the last-placer turns defensive and draws the rest of his games. 

This could be what So will do. Live chess ratings have shown him to be 12th in the world, down from seventh as of last month. However, the Sinquefield Cup results will not be included in the monthly rating list of the World Chess Federation when this is released on September 1. 

Even if it will be less than one year since So transferred from the Philippines to the United States, So remains the big story for Philippine chess fans. They are the ones who are noisy in chess websites, and sometimes their comments become strident.  

There are two main chess sites on Facebook: Chess Philippines and Chess News and Views, which are run by people who believe in So even if the US flag is beside his table when he plays. 

Most have ignored that Haridas Pascua is scrambling to earn his third norm to become a grandmaster in Abu Dhabi Masters Tournament. He lost his second straight game and must win his last two games to have a chance to nail down that norm. 

So’s defenders have pointed out that unlike his foes in the Sinquefield Cup, he has no second for this prestigious event. He is armed with chess engines on his computer, which every top grandmaster has. One apologist even said: “The other grandmasters have coaches but they are not faring very well.” 

Another So defender said that So became a professional only in November so there must be some slack. “He has been chosen sharp lines for this tournament. These decisions can go either way,” one of them said. 

And things have gone the other way. Three of So’s losses come from the white pieces where So is comfortable, and one from black at the hands of the world champion Magnus Carlsen. 

Of greater concern is whether this will affect his form in the World Cup, the second stage to qualifying for the world championship. But then, win or lose, and with the Philippines not having any one to approximate So’s caliber, Filipino chess fans will still stay up late or wake up early to follow So. – Rappler.com