Wesley So turns chess pro, leading in Vegas meet

Chess grandmaster Wesley So. FACEBOOK LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Grandmaster Wesley So scored four straight wins to sprint into the lead in the 24th North American Open at the Bally Casino Resort, his first competition since deciding to turn full-time chess professional.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Grandmaster Wesley So scored four straight wins to sprint into the lead in the 24th North American Open at the Bally Casino Resort, his first competition since deciding to turn full-time chess professional.

The 21-year-old So, who decided to drop out of college to concentrate on chess, made short work of his opponents to stamp his class in the five-day, nine-round Swiss system competition in which he is the top seed.

In the first round, playing the black pieces, he defeated FM Ali Morshedi of the US in 37 moves of a Sicilian Defense, and came back with the white pieces to beat another American, IM John Bryant in 41 moves of a Modern Benoni in the second round.

Then the prodigious Filipino, now playing under the US flag, knocked out two highly regarded players to stay unbeaten in the chase for the $10,000 first prize in the Open section, a far cry from the $100,000 he won in the Millionaire Chess tournament in the nearby Planet Hotel & Casino in October.

In the third round, with black, So felled Russian grandmaster Roman Yankovsky in just 27 moves of a Sicilian and followed that with an even shorter 21-move win with the white pieces over American Alex Yermolinsky of a Queen’s Gambit Declined.

So boosted his live rating to 2768.6, a new personal best, and remains No.10 in the world.

He shares the tournament lead with two other players, each with four points after four rounds. Grandmasters Enrico Sevillano and Julio Becerra; IM Ricky de Guzman and FM Joel Banawa have 2.5 points each.

The Las Vegas stop is a tune-up for So for the Tata Steel super-tournament, starting January 9 in Wijk aan Zee, in the Netherlands, in which world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, among others, will be competing.

So, who left the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) in November 2013 to join the US chess federation, has decided to drop out of Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was taking a business course.

His coaches there, Susan Polgar and Paul Truong, who have been credited with his rise in the world rankings, have only nice words for his departure, although there were some issues of the “timing” and its publication in a chess website.

Caption Lenny So with son Wesley and daughter. FACEBOOK

They said they supported the move; but even So’s mother, Leny, who is based in Canada, questioned whether it was the right one at the right time.

“Wesley is an adult and he has made his choice. Unfortunately, we could easily imagine better choices, or better ways for him to have expressed his choice or brought it about, ” Lenny said in an interview with Chessdom.com.

“All we can do as parents is to re-express our hope that he will make well-thought-out choices in the future and display regard for their effects.”

Mindful of his critics, including those back home who resented his leaving the NCFP, So said he hoped everyone would understand his decision.

“I wish ‘concerned’ people would stop insisting that ‘certain others,’ ‘advisors’ or inhabitants of the evil empire, make my decisions,” said So in a Facebook posting. “Do you understand that this is an insult to me? I am 21 years old and rise or fall, I make my own decisions.”

He added, “Will I succeed? Will I fail? No one knows the answer to that. I decided I want to play chess professionally. That means taking certain risks. I’m willing to take them.”

The first test of that is here in Las Vegas. It will be the first tournament under the US flag for the one-time prodigy from Cavite, now based in Minnesota.

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