Wesley So drops last round, throws away chance to win Norway Chess

MANILA, Philippines – When 4 of the strongest players in the world are tied for first with one round to go, they say it is like a lottery. Throw in the chess clock and it is a sleepless night for chess fans. 

The pendulum of advantage swung from one move to another, but Fabiano Caruana heaved a sigh of relief in a complicated position when Wesley So blundered on move 41. This gave Caruana the Altibox Norway Chess  2018 title Friday morning, June 8, with 5 points.

“I mainly got lucky in this tournament,” said Caruana, who liked his personal score against So to 4-2, in an interview with Norwegian journalists. “This game could’ve gone any way. I could have lost it. This was a lucky victory.”

“The only reason he made this mistake is because he lost hope and he thought he was losing,” added Caruana, who last beat So in the 2018 Candidates tournament. But in the post-game analysis, Caruana said:” I thought he played ambitiously and correctly.”

World champion Magnus Carlsen, who plays Caruana for the title in November, Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura tied for second with 4.5 points. So and Levon Aronian tied for 5th place with 4 points.

Before the last round, So, Caruana, Carlsen and  Nakamura were tied for the lead with 4 pts. But except for Caruana, the rest had the Black pieces so Carlsen drew with Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Nakamura drew with Aronian. 

So, who had derailed Carlsen’s chances to win in Norway by beating him for the first time, decided to play aggressively against Caruana. It was rare to see So, who mostly draws his games, going for the attack with Black.

By pushing his Kingside pawn to the g5 square on the 12th move, So attacked Caruana’s king. Perhaps it is strange to see So attack this way but 10 years ago in the Philippines, So played – as chess club lingo puts it – “na parang umusok ang board” (like the board is on fire) before a more mature and quiet style took hold.

Mating threats swirled, forcing Caruana to spend lots of time repelling the onslaught. But as many-time Russian champion Peter Svidler, commenting for chess24.com, said So failed to push his attack further. 

However, a battle of endurance and psychology ensued. So castled on the queenside, as if daring Caruana to attack. Caruana pursued it but neglected to strengthen his position. Dark clouds continued to hover over Caruana’s king and at the post-game analysis, Caruana made a telling remark.

“Basically I was bit confused and I panicked and played b6,” said Caruana of his 37th move. As he went through the forest of lines, Caruana said: “I can’t say what is happening here.” 

Caruana was showing the many counter chances of So, some leading to mate and difficult to see if both players have less than 3 minutes to make the first time control at move 40. “Wow, what a thriller! Caruana allowed So to get in the game again,” tweeted Norwegian journalistTarjei J. Svenssen.

Caruana later said he erred on move 40 and So, with little time, immediately sacrificed a rook.

At move 41, players normally take a short break to calm themselves as time is added on the clocks. But So apparently did not check his score sheet to see if he had made move 40 and played the losing move quickly.

“A stunning moment, apparently So didn’t realize he’d made move 40 and with 41… Rd3 he lost the game,” tweeted chess24.com

“I don’t know why,” said Caruana, why So played instantly 40… Rd3 instead of 40… Rd2 which would have drawn. He added that he thought he was winning after capturing the rook on the 41st move but did not see 41.. Rd2 drew. 

Despite the result, So showed that he has managed to recover after failure in the 2018 Candidates tournament and yielding the US title to Caruana. He won over Carlsen for the first time and showed that he is ready to move to the top once more. – Rappler.com