Filipino-American grandmaster Wesley So pulled off the biggest win of his career when he shocked world No. 1 GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
So, the Cavite-born chess wizard who now competes for the United States, edged the former world champion in 59 moves of a Sicilian Defense to enter the semifinals of this prestigious event that dangles a total pot of $500,000 with $200,000 to the winner.
The world No. 6, So, followed up his impressive feat with another win over Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan to make it six in a row, proving that he has what it takes to compete against the best players in the world.
The win also secured So one of the six berths to the next phase where he was joined Carlsen, Caruana (4 points) and Abdusattorov (3 points) with the last two seats being contested by American Hikaru Nakamura, France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Iran-born Alireza Firouzja of France and Belarussian Denis Lazavik.
So is playing against US teammate Fabiano Caruana in the seventh and final round at press time.
Carlsen, for his part, bounced back from that crushing defeat with a 1.5-0.5 thrashing of Vachier-Lagrave to remain at second with five points, one point behind So.
With his place in the semifinal secured, the 30-year-old chess whiz will have a day to rest before competing in the semifinal which starts on 13 December.
The top four GMs after So and Carlsen will be vying in the survival stage for the remaining two slots in the semifinal and will clash with either So or Carlsen.
The championship match will begin on 15 December.
