Wesley So finishes second in US Chess Championship

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So neither lost a game nor was he distracted by family issues in the 2016 US Chess Championship, but he could only finish second in the event in St Louis, Missouri, which ended Tuesday morning, April 26 (Manila time).

So, who was born and raised in the Philippines but changed his federation to the United States in 2014, took second on tiebreak with last year’s champion, Hikaru Nakamura, with 7.5 points.

They were one point ahead of Fabiano Caruana, who had 8.5 points. Caruana transferred from the Italian chess federation to the US.

So finished the round-robin tournament ranked 10th in the world, according to a website which tracks changes in world chess ratings in every event.

In the 2015 championship, So lost 4 times with the last one ruled by the arbiter in favor of his opponent, Varuzhan Akobian, who claimed So was distracting him by writing self-reminders during the game.

After leading the tournament most of the way, So limped home in third place with 6.5 points behind Nakamura and Ray Robson, So’s former teammate at Webster University. 

This time, So drew his last 4 games perhaps due to his desire to remain near the top. So drew with Robson, one of the 4 players to beat him in 2015, but only after the latter missed a promising line to pressure So.

In the last round against Aleksandr Lenderman, So got the advantage but Lenderman hung on in an endgame where his two bishops occupied key squares to stop So’s a-pawn from queening and to hinder the king from going to the kingside to attack the pawns. 

So played for the Philippines in the 2012 Olympiad, where the country was in the thick of the fight for the top 3 places until the last two rounds.

In 2013, he won the World University Games chess tournament, giving the Philippines its first and only gold medal.

In choosing to shift chess federations, So said this would help him pursue his dream to become world champion someday. After his transfer to the US was formalized in October 2014, he turned professional in December, leaving Webster.

He won several events last year, including the Bilbao Masters last November, and was tied for fourth in the 2016 Tata Steel Tournament, one of the strongest in the world. – Rappler.com