Wesley So moves closer to Global Championship, P11.7 million purse

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So showed his old brilliance and took a 3-1 lead over Nihal Sarin in their final tussle in the Chess.com Global Championship 2022 in Toronto, Canada.

The Filipino-born So won twice with the white pieces, then held the Indian sensation to two draws with black in the first four-game set of their match on Sunday, November 6 (Monday, November 7, Manila time), to move closer to his first major title this year.

All So needs now is three draws in the second four-game set on Monday to bag the $200,000 champion’s purse (around P11.7 million) in the $1 million event.

His spirits buoyed by a 5-3 victory over the favored Hikaru Nakamura in the semifinals, So employed the Petroff Defense to force the 18-year-old Sarin to resign after 34 moves.

Sarin, who bested Anish Giri via Armaggedon in the other semifinal match, opted for the Catalan Opening in Game 2 but found it was to So’s liking and they agreed to halve the point.

In the third game, So chose the Modern Defense and punished Sarin with a strong attack, sacrificing a rook and eventually posting a checkmate in the time scramble.

To stop the bleeding, Sarin agreed to another draw and needs to score 3.5 points on Monday to topple So, who’s slowly regaining the form that earned him several titles, including the US Championship and the overall title in the Grand Chess Tour.

During the post-match interview, So said he just realized that he had to sacrifice in the Game 3 exchange, although he wasn’t really sure of the repercussion, adding “it looked fun.”

Whenever So feels that way, his rivals must be wary of what he will come up with. Sarin knows that by now. – Rappler.com