So nears breaching 2800-mark

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Wesley So is eyeing to eclipse the 2800-rating plateau somewhere in the middle of the year. He might reach it earlier than expected.

Now No. 6 in the world with a rating of 2785.3, So seeks to advance even further as he seeks another win against French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the ninth round of the 77th Tata Steel Masters in Wijk an Zee, The Netherlands.

So, now representing the United States, zoomed that far in the live rating list after he shocked former World Challenger GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in Sunday's eighth round that also pushed him half a point closer to solo leader GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, the reigning world champion.

After supplanting American GM Hiraku Nakamura at No. 9 (2776) as early as a week ago, So overtook Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik (2783), Armenian GM Levon Aronian (2781.5) and Dutch GM Anish Giri (2781.4) one after the other thanks to that massive win over Ivanchuk, the former tournament leader.

After eight rounds, So emerged the only undefeated player among 14 participants with 5.5 points on three wins and five draws including two against the top two rated chessers in the world – Carlsen and Italian GM Fabiano Caruana.

So is currently tied with Vachier-Lagrave and Chinese GM Ding Liren at No. 2 but could either catch up or overtake Carlsen with a win over Vachier-Lagrave in their match being played as of posting time.

So, however, isn't celebrating early saying anything can happen in the final five rounds.

"It's a long tournament. We just have to be prepared and ready to play each game," So told chessbase.com.

After Vachier-Lagrave, So will face off with Ding tonight in The Hague before the 13-round Category 20 event takes another break anew.

He will battle Croatian GM Ivan Saric Friday and Dutch GMs Anish Giri Saturday and Loek Van Wely Sunday with hopes of finishing well.