Wesley So

Wesley Sun, 2015
Association	Philippines (until 2014) United States (since 2014)
Born	October 9, 1993 Manila
title	International Master (2006) Grand Master (2008)
World Champion	2019 (Chess960)
Current  Elo rating	2770 (August 2020)
Best Elo rating	2822 (February to April 2017)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Wesley Barbasa So (born October 9, 1993 in Manila ) is a Philippine chess grandmaster . He has been playing for the US Chess Federation since October 2014 .

Life

Wesley So learned to play chess from his father at the age of six. In 2006 he became the youngest member of the national men's team and took part in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin (Italy) at the age of twelve . In December of the same year he also became the youngest National Open Chess Champion.

At the age of twelve years and ten months he became the youngest Filipino International Master . He met all the required standards in 2006, namely in April at the Dubai Open, in June at the 2nd Open San Marino and in August at the 3rd IGB Dato Arthur Tan Open in Kuala Lumpur . At the age of 14 years, one month and 28 days, he achieved the title of grandmaster, making him the seventh youngest person in chess history to achieve this title. He fulfilled the required standards in November 2006 at the 10th Open Bavarian Championship in Bad Wiessee , in October 2007 at the Junior World Championship in Yerevan and in December 2007 at the 3rd Pichay Cup in Manila. In 2009 he was the highest rated U-16 player in the world.

In October 2008, he achieved an Elo rating of 2610, making him the youngest player in history to break the 2600 Elo mark. His successor was Hou Yifan , who was the youngest grandmaster ever for a few months.

Sun - Aronjan, Candidates Tournament Berlin 2018 (6th round)

So qualified four times for the World Chess Cup . When he first participated in 2009 , he reached the round of 16 by winning against Qədir Hüseynov , Wassyl Iwantschuk and Gata Kamsky , in which he failed to Vladimir Malachov . In 2011 he lost to 1 seed Sergei Karjakin after an opening win against Ding Liren , in 2013 he defeated Alexander Ipatov in the first round , but lost to Evgeni Tomaschewski in the second round . At the 2015 World Chess Cup in Baku , So prevailed in the first three rounds against Parham Maghsoodloo , Csaba Balogh and Lê Quang Liêm , before failing in the round of 16 against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave .

In October 2014 Wesley So moved to the US Chess Federation . In 2016, he finished second in the United States Championship with 7.5 out of eleven points, one point behind Fabiano Caruana . In the same year he won the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic .

Wesley So won the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee in January 2017 with nine points ahead of the reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen . In the same year he was the first US champion. As one of two players who averaged the best Elo rating in 2017 and who took part in the World Cup or Grand Prix 2017, he qualified for the Berlin Candidates Tournament in March 2018, in which the challenger to the world champion was determined. There Wesley So finished seventh out of eight players.

In November 2019 he won the first world championship in Chess960 , where he defeated Magnus Carlsen in the final with 13.5: 2.5 points.

Elo development

National team

Wesley So took part in the 2006 , 2008 , 2010 and 2012 Chess Olympiads with the Philippine national team. He also represented the Philippines in the chess competitions of the 2010 Asian Games and the 2007 Asian Indoor Games. At the 2016 Chess Olympiad , So competed with the US team for the first time and won the gold medal for the best performance on board 3, both with the team and as an individual player .

societies

So played in the Philippines for the team from Tagaytay City , with whom he participated in the Asian club championship in 2008 and achieved the best individual result on the top board. He played in the Chinese team championship in 2009 for the Bank of Qingdao , and won the French team championship in 2012 with Clichy-Echecs-92. He won the United States Chess League in 2014 with the St. Louis Arch Bishops , and in 2015 he played for Minnesota Blizzard .

Game example

Caruana – Wesley So

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

End position after 69 ... Re5

In the following game, Wesley So defeated the American Fabiano Caruana with the black pieces at the 2015 Dortmund Chess Festival.

Caruana – Wesley Sun 0: 1

Dortmund, June 28, 2015

Sicilian opening ( Najdorf variant ), B90

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nde2 b5 8. g4 b4 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 h5 11. gxh5 Rxh5 12. a3 bxa3 13. Rxa3 Nd7 14. Bg2 Nf6 15. 0–0 Rb8 16. f4 Be7 17. c4 Qb6 + 18. Rf2 Rh4 19. Rc3 Bd7 20. b3 Lxh3 21. Bxh3 Ne4 22. De1 Nxc3 23. Qxc3 Qxb3 24. Qxb3 Rxb3 25. Bc8 e4 26. Bxa6 Bd8 27.c5 dxc5 28. Rg2 g6 29. Rg3 Rxg3 + 30.Nxg3 Rg4 31. Kh2 f5 32. Ne2 Rh4 + 33. Kg2 Bc7 34.Bc8 Kd8 35.Be6 Ke7 36. Be3 Bd6 37. Bf2 Rh8 38.Be1 c4 39. Bc3 Ta8 40. Be5 Ra2 41. Kf1 Td2 42. Bc3 Td3 43. Ba5 Ba3 44. Bg8 Bd6 45. Be6 Bc5 46. Ke1 Rb3 47. Kd2 Rb2 + 48. Kd1 Bb4 49. Bxb4 + Rxb4 50. Kc2 Rb3 51. Nc3 e3 52. Bg8 Rb6 53. Ne2 Ra6 54. d6 + Rxd6 55. Bxc4 Kf6 56.Bd3 g5 57. fxg5 + Kxg5 58.Ng3 Rc6 + 59. Kd1 f4 60. Nf1 Rb6 61. Nh2 Kh4 62. Ke1 Kg5 63. Nf1 + Kf3 64. Nf1 + Kg2 65. Nf1 Re6 66. Bc4 Re5 67. Ba6 Ra5 68.Bb7 + Kg1 69.Nxe3 Re5 0: 1

Web links

Commons : Wesley So  - collection of images

• Replayable chess games by Wesley So on 365Chess.com
• Wesley So: The Next Pinoy Superstar ( Memento from October 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
• World's Youngest GM - GM Wesley So, age 14 (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IM application to FIDE (English)
2. ↑ GM application to FIDE (English)
3. ↑ Association change 2014 at FIDE (English)
4. ↑ André Schulz : Caruana and Paikidze are US champions. Chessbase, April 26, 2016, accessed May 1, 2016 . 
5. ↑ de.chessbase.com
6. ↑ Numbers according to FIDE Elo lists. Data sources: fide.com (period since 2001), olimpbase.org (period 1971 to 2001)
7. ↑ Wesley So's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
8. ↑ Wesley So's results at the Asian Games ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on olimpbase.org (English) 
9. ↑ Wesley So's results at the Asian Games ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on olimpbase.org (English) 
10. ↑ Wesley So's results at Asian club championships ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on olimpbase.org (English)