So clashes against world's bests in Netherlands

MANILA, Philippines -- The long, hard road to a dream world title starts for Wesley So as he clashes with Polish Grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek in the opening round of the super strong 77th Tata Steel Masters in Wijk an Zee, The Netherlands.

So, 21, is seeded fifth out of 14 participants after ending up ranked 10th in the world with a rating of 2762 and will have his hands full against Wojtaszek, seeded seventh here who is No. 15 in the world with a 2744 rating.

This will be the toughest tournament So, born in Cavite who is now representing the United States to chase his dream of becoming world champion, is participating since this is a Category 20 event with an average rating of 2746.

So strong, in fact, that the tournament boasts of drawing reigning men's world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and women's champion Hou Yifan of China, world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana of Italy, defending titlist Levon Aronian of Armenia and former World Challenger Vasily Ivanchuk of Ukraine.

So drew a first round foe in Wojtaszek in the ceremonial drawing of lots Friday night (Phl time) and the two were playing at press time in this 12-round tournament considered as the Wimbledon of chess.

Interestingly, So will clash against the world's chess titans as he faces off with Caruana in the second round tonight, Aronian Monday and Caruana Tuesday in matches that should decide the Cavite-born chesser's fate.

After a break on Wednesday, So returns to action by tackling Hou, who is just 20 years old but holds the women's world title and should surpass retired Hungarian GM Judit Polgar as the highest rated women player in the world soon, Thursday, Georgian GM Baadur Jobava Friday, Azeri GM Teimour Radjabov Saturday and Ivanchuk Sunday.

After another respite on Monday, So squares off with French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Jan. 20, Chinese GM Ding Liren on Jan. 21 before the tournament takes another break the day after.

On Jan. 23, So tangles with Coratian  GM Ivan Saric, plays Dutch GM Anish Giri on Jan. 24before closing out his campaign with a duel with another Dutch GM Loek Van Wely on Jan. 25.

So jumped from No. 28 last year to where he is at right now after winning the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba, the ACP Golden Classic in Bergamo, Italy, the Millionaire's Open and the North American Open in Las Vegas and finishing second to Ivanchuk in the Edmonton Cup in Alberta, Canada.

So is eyeing to improve on a solid sixth place finish in this same event a year ago.