Wesley tests mettle of world’s top GMs

MANILA, Philippines - Wesley So tries to prove his worth as he goes up against some of the world’s top grandmasters in the Tata Steel Chess 2014 which begins today in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands,

So, 20, will be pitted against some of the world’s leading players, including Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Sergey Kariakin of Russia and Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany, along with world No. 2 Levon Aronian of Armenia and No. 4 Hikaru Nakamura of the US.

Giri, the youngest player in the Top 30 in the world at 19, has beaten the Filipino twice in four matches with the other two ending up in draws.

So also lost to Kariakin once and drew thrice while also bowing to Naiditsch and drawing their only other match.

But So is brimming with confidence heading to the event, having emerged the best individual performer in last December’s Pan American Games in Lubbock, Texas where he swept all his six matches.

So has also moved from No. 30 in the world to No. 28 with a rating of 2719 in the recent FIDE rankings early this month and counting his effort in the PanAm and possibly another solid performance in Wijk aan Zee, he is expected to gain more in the world ranking.

“My target this year is to reach the 2750 rating but I will take it a game at a time,” So told The STAR.

The annual event, known before as Corus and Hoogovens, will be So’s toughest tournament he’ll be participating since he will face super GMs currently in the top 10 in the world.

Also participating in the 16-day event, to be played under a double-round robin format, are Italy’s Fabiano Caruana, Israel’s Boris Gelfand, Cuba’s Leinier Dominguez, India’s Pentala Harikrishna, Hungary’s Richard Rapport and Dutch Loek Van Wely.