Champion Weekend: Webster Chess Players Win Three Titles

Champion Weekend: Webster Chess Players Win Three Titles
Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:42 AM PDT 
Webster Today

The Webster University chess team has several new achievements to celebrate as they prepare for the upcoming PanAm InterCollegiate games.

Over the weekend, Webster sophomore Wesley So, a grandmaster from the Philippines, won one of the most prominent chess invitational tournaments in the world, the 2013 Univé Crown in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands. So was so dominant that he captured the title with one round to spare. His final score was 4.5 points in 6 games, a full 1.5 point ahead of the next competitor. He also raised his world ranking, and is now ranked #32 overall in the world, as well as #2 among players under age 21.

Also last weekend, So’s teammate and fellow grandmaster Georg Meier, a junior from Germany, won a pair of prestigious national championships over the weekend in Santa Clara, Calif. On Saturday, Meier captured the U.S. g/30 National Championship with a perfect 5/5 score, a full point ahead of the next player. On Sunday, he scored 3.5/4 to win the U.S. g/60 National Championship.

All members of the Webster University chess team are training hard to prepare for the upcoming PanAm InterCollegiate Chess Championship, which will take place in Lubbock, Texas, Dec. 26-30. This PanAm is expected to be the strongest in history. The top four finishers will qualify for the “final four” of college chess, which Webster won in 2013.