Wesley is now no.2 player in the world

Wesley So recently won the super elite Tata Steel Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee,Netherlands and was the only undefeated player in the field with five wins and eight draws. This tournament included world champion Magnus Carlsen and his challenger Sergey Karjakin.

Carlsen, who finished second, had skipped the previous two super tournaments that So won — the London Chess Classic and the Sinquefield Cup .

His rating last July was 2770 and no.11 and after Wijk aan Zee it is now 2822 making him currently the no. 2 player in the world. His gain of 52 Elo points is an unprecedented and amazing achievement in the elite level.

Wesley says "Winning this tournament is huge with the world champion in it, the best player in the world”

His record now stands at 56 games in elite events without a single loss in a period of six months .

He first won the Category 22 4th Sinquefield Cup last August with 2 wins and 7 draws that included Topalov, Nakamura, Anand, Aronian, Caruana , Vachier-Lagrave, Ding Liren, Svidler and Anish Giri competing.

In the Baku Chess Olympiad last year, September, Wesley, playing for the USA, won the gold medal in Board 3 with another undefeated 8.5/10 score and a performance rating of 2896.

In this Olympiad, USA also won the gold in the team event after a period of 42 tears.

Last December, Wesley won the London Classic with three wins and six draws. This was another Category 22 event. He was awarded an additional $100,000 for winning the overall Grand Chess Tour.

Local. We had our January monthly tournament last Sunday at Knight Attack chess café and the top 3 winners and their tiebreak scores were Adrian Valparaiso 4 (15.5),Mario Bustillo 4 (13,5) and Rey Flores 4 (10.5).

There will be a 14 and under dubbed Little Wesley So this Sunday February 5 at the same venue starting at 1pm. Contact Marvin Ruelan at 09267352951. Registration is P50.

On February 19, we will host 20 ladies varsity players to play against selected members in celebration of Valentines day.

I am hoping that our honorary members namely-former mayors Mike Rama and Alvin Garcia ,chess patrons Boojie Lim and Darcy Tabotabo,Andrew Aznar and Kelly Uy –will have the time despite their heavy schedules.

Two game matches at rapid time control., Venue is at Knight Attack and it starts at 2 p.m.

This early,Cepca members (class B only),who are interested to play can contact me at 09295684458. P

The participation fee of P200 includes snacks and Valentine’s Day gift for the ladies.