So posts RP's highest chess rating

Grandmaster Wesley So continued his meteoric rise as he gained 17 points in the last quarter to post the highest rating ever in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) list by a Filipino.

The 15-year-old So, the seventh youngest in the world to obtain the GM title, gained 5.50 points in the fourth Pichay Cup International and a whopping 11.60 in last December’s Dresden Olympiad to leapfrog from 2610 last October to 2627 in the quarterly list released recently.

So’s current rating is now the highest posted by any Filipino since GM Mark Paragua peaked at 2621 in April three years back.

While also remaining RP’s highest ranked player, So came merely seven points shy of barging into the elite top 100 headed by Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov with 2796.

The teenage sensation also improved from No. 11 to No. 9 in the World Juniors ranking and third in the whole of Asia next to Chinese No. 4 GMs Wang Hao (2691) and No. 7 Li Chao (2628).

Vintage GM Eugene Torre, Asia’s first GM, was stagnant the last quarter but still kept his grip at No. 2 with 2560 ahead of newly minted GM John Paul Gomez, Paragua and GM Joey Antonio with 2539, 2537 and 2519, respectively.

Rounding up the top 10 were GM Darwin Laylo (2504), International Masters Rolando Nolte (2488), Roland Salvador (2476) and Richard Bitoon (2473) and GM Bong Villamayor (2471).