Wesley So ends US Championship meltdown with victory

MANILA, Philippines – Just one more round and the worst tournament in Wesley So’s career will be over. On Sunday morning, So showed the high technical skill that made him one of the world’s best 10 players by defeating a former world championship challenger in the 10th round of the US Chess Championship in St Louis, Missouri. 

His triumph over Gata Kamsky put So at fourth place with 5.5 points. Hikaru Nakamura leads with 7 points followed by So’s former Webster University teammate Ray Robson with 6.5 points. Alexander Onishuk is third with 6 points. 

“To the delight of spectators worldwide, So played nearly flawless (chess),” according to the 2015 US Chess Championship’s Round 10 report.

So’s victory over Kamsky means he has a clean record against the former Russian prodigy, who challenged Anatoly Karpov for the world championship. So, then 15, eliminated Kamsky in the third round of the 2009 World Cup, one of the qualifying events to the world championship. 

But his world rating, which was no. 5 as of April, has fallen with the three losses here. Only six points short of the super grandmaster 2800 Elo rating level at 2794, So is estimated to have lost 10 points in St Louis which pulled him down to no. 9. 

So, in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune last Saturday revealed that there are “personal problems in my family. 

“Trying to fix them during this tournament has caused a lot of stress and tension. It diverted a lot of energy from the board when I should be focusing on my game.”  

So, who was expected to challenge Nakamura for the title, lost to prodigy Sam Sevian, Robson and Conrad Holt, all of whom are rated lower than him. 

The details of these problems remain unclear as a family member reached by Rappler.com refused to answer email. 

So flies to Azerbaijan next week for a very strong tournament. World champion Magnus Carlsen, former titleholder Viswanathan Anand, Fabiano Caruana, Maxine Vachier Lagrave and So’s nemesis Anish Giri are some of the big names in this event.

This event will show if So has still enough gas in his tank to recover after a nightmarish US Championship. – Rappler.com