Wesley So trips Nakamura, forges title clash with Sarin

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So flashed his old, fiery form to subdue fellow American Hikaru Nakamura on Saturday, November 5 (Sunday, November 6, Manila time) and arrange a finals tussle with Indian sensation Nihal Sarin in the Chess.com Global Championship 2022 in Toronto, Canada.

Exploiting his strong bishop pair, the Bacoor, Cavite-born So prevailed in Game 7 to grab the upper hand against the favored Nakamura.

Pushed into a must-win situation, Nakamura employed his pet King’s Indian Defense in the eighth and last game of their semifinal match but to no avail as So played well.

It was Nakamura, the newly crowned Fischer Random Chess world champion, who eventually blundered a rook, giving So another win and an overall 5-3 victory.

The first four games on Friday ended in draws and so did the first two games on Saturday.

So, who’s groping for form this year, will clash with the 18-year-old Sarin, who stunned Dutch ace Anish Giri in the Armaggedon decider of their semifinal encounter, for the $200,000 (about P11.6 million) champion’s purse. The loser gets $100,000.

Unlike in his match against Nakamura, who was picked by most chess experts to beat him, So is the favorite against Sarin in the event using the 15-minute plus 2-second increment time control.

If he wins, So will bag his most lucrative prize this year and bury the stigma of losing his back-to-back US crown to Fabiano Caruana, the Fischer Random world title to Nakamura, and the Grand Chess Tour overall championship to Alireza Firouzja. – Rappler.com