Hail, Wesley
Published : Tuesday, May 20, 2014
By Ed Andaya
Final standings:
6.5 points –W. So (Philippines)
5.5 — L. Bruzon (Cuba)
5 — L. Dominguez (Cuba)
4.5 — F. Vallejo (Spain), Z. Almasi (Hungary)
4 — V. Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
MISSION accomplished for GM Wesley So of the Philippines.
So, at 20 already one of the world’s most-sought after young players, settled for a quick, grandmaster’s draw with last year’s champion GM Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in the 10th and final round to formalize his claim to the title in the 49th Tournament Capablanca in Memoriam 2014 at the Habana Riviera Hotel in Havana, Cuba.
So, who played white, and Almasi agreed to a draw — as expected — after only 12 moves of the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
The draw capped a memorable 11-day of chess brilliance for the multi-awarded Filipino champion, who finished with a 10-round total of 6.5 points on three wins and seven draws in the prestigious six-player, double-round competition.
More importantly, the triumph cemented So ‘s claim as the world’s the hottest young playerwith a live rating of ELO 2744.4 — good for No.15th overall in the FIDE list.
So finished a full point ahead of GM Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba, who also split the point with compatriot GM Lenier Dominguez .
Dominguez, a three -time winner and the highest-rated player in this event, finished third with five points.
Completing the list of the participants are GM Francisco Vallejo of Spain and Almasi, who finished with 4.5 points; and six-time champion GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine.
Five-time women’s world champion Susan Polgar lauded So’s newest achievement in chess but added that there is still a lot of work to do to reach their goal of making it to the Top 10.
“Wesley needs to improve more. We will be addressing other weaknesses in his game. Next goals are 2750+ and top 10,” said Polgar in a message to So’s followers in the country.
Polgar also congratulated So’s family, who is set to welcome the champion when he returns home in Toronto tomorrow (Tuesday).
“Congratulations Leny! Wesley worked hard for this victory. Enjoy some family time with him,” wrote Polgar, whose highly-successful SPICE proigram at the Webster University is credited for So’s meteoric rise in the chess hierarchy.
Hosted by the Cuban Chess Federation and the Instituto Nacional de Deportes Educacion Fisica y Recreacion, the event started in 1962 with GM Miguel Najdorf of Argentina winning the first title.
Other notable winners in the tournament were Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland, Vassily Smylov of Russia, Bent Larsen of Denmark, Ulf Andersson of Sweden, Tony Miles of England, Peter Leko of Hungary, Robert Huebner of Germany, and Julio Granda Zuniga of Peru.
Former American world champion Bobby Fischer competed in the fourth edition in 1965 but finished only second to Smyslov.
Source: http://www.journal.com.ph
So will be punished by his federation because they didn’t approve this tournament.
As if the NCFP cares 🙂 Their President is Pichay a politician NOT a chess player. He does not give a shit about Filipino GM’s and is looking forward to max out every benefit gain from NCFP to further and recusitate his political career in the Philippines at the expense of the chess body and players.
Who cares. Nakamura is still the best.