Filipino-American Wesley So defeated young Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in a marathon six-hour war that was decided in an epic sudden-death armageddon game to arrange a finals showdown with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the Champions Chess Tour Friday in Toronto.
So, the 30-year-old former child prodigy from Cavite now playing for the United States, was forced to win with the white pieces against the dangerous Abdusattorov.
His win matched Carlsen’s victory over Italian-American Fabiano Caruana, whom he also beat in another armageddon, denying his opponent to force a rubber match.
So, however, had to defeat Abdusattorov to tie the match, 1-1 after losing on Thursday.
He won, 2.5-1.5 victory on Day 2 of the semifinals in a match that had everything at stake, including $51,000. By advancing into the finals against Carlsen, So is assured of at least $100,000, the prize reserved for the runner-up. The champion gets $200,000.
Both Abdusattorov and Caruana, the world No. 2, settled for $50,000 each as losing semifinalists.
In the So-Abdusattorov armageddon, the young Uzbek won the bid for a time of nine minutes and 19 seconds against white’s 15 minutes, needing only to draw to advance into the finals.
But So came up with another opening repertoire, playing the English, the first time he used in the match against the well-prepared 2021 World Rapid champion.
The end came on the 51st move with So about to promote a pawn on the queenside.
“A big shoutout to Nodirbek. He really played well. I was already running out of fumes. It was really a very brutal, slugging match. In the end, it was about who had more energy, who had more stamina left,” So said.
Against Carlsen, So hopes to duplicate his win against the Norwegian in the eliminations.
“I have a horrible lifetime score against Magnus. I hope he gets easy on me tomorrow,” So chuckled.
“But I’ll really try my best. I hope it will be a match tomorrow.”
