Filipino-American Grandmaster Wesley So has been declared co-winner with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz chess tournament held Sunday.
The Cavite-native So displayed his skills and won his last 3 games to clinch top honors shared with Norway’s Carlsen in the online chess tourney that ended on September 20, 2020.
Wesley So bested the world’s top players on his way to claiming the championship title, winning against Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia’s No. 1), Levon Aronian (Armenia’s No. 1), and Harikrishna Pentala (India’s No. 2).
The GM who started his career in the Philippines finished the tourney with an overall score of 24 for the $45,000 prize money.
“It is often hard to compete against Magnus for first place and generally in these blitz games a lot of things can happen very quickly so I’m grateful for today’s win,” said Wesley So in the Chess.com tournament report.
Carlsen praised So’s performance, saying, “I thought overall the rapid portion was successful with many good moments and I congratulate Wesley So on a fantastic tournament, he played solidly throughout, especially with his 3 consecutive wins. It was an overall amazing performance that you can only tip your hat to that.”
Wesley So is the Fischer Random world champion who pulled an upset over Carlsen at his home country in 2019.
Wesley So also won the 1st United States Clutch Chess Champions Showdown held in May.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to Wesley So for winning the world title with Magnus Carlsen at the 2020 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.
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