PSA 2017 Annual Awards

Ms. Volleyball, Mika Reyes, Volleyball (DLSU-UAAP / F2 Logistics-PSL, F2 Logistics Manila-2016 FIVB WCWC)

Major awards went to: Josephine Medina (Paralympics), Janelle Mae Frayna (chess), Eric Shauwn Cray (athletics), Marestella Torres-Sunang (athletics), Mary Joy Tabal (Marathon), Ian Lariba (table tennis), Kirstie Elaine Alora (taekwondo), Nestor Colonia (weightlifting), Philippine Poomsae Team (Jean Pierre Sabido, Ernesto Guzman, Jr., Jeordan Dominguez, Glenn Lava), San Miguel Beer (pro basketball), Jeron Alvin Teng (amateur basketball), Johnriel Casimero ( boxing), Yuka Saso (golf), Eduard Folayang (mixed martial arts), Marvin Mangulabnan (superbike), Mark Alvarez (Jockey of the Year) and Low Profile (Horse of the Year). Why not Wesley So? That is a good question. Why is Wesley So not an awardee? He is, after all, ranked no. 2 in the chess world right now, something which no other Filipino has ever done. Even GM Eugene at his peak in the early ’80s only reached no. 17.

The obvious answer is that Wesley So has “turned his back” on the Philippines and now represents the United States.

Wesley is an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) trying to earn some income from chess. A few years ago his parents migrated to Canada and left him here in the Philippines to pursue his chess career. They took with them all his savings and left him with nothing. What was Wesley to do? The Kabigting family (spouses Bambi Kabigting and Lotis Key took him into their household in Minnetonka, Minnesota and at the same time took over his chess career. Wesley was asked to concentrate on his chess while the Kabigtings, especially Lotis, took care of everything else. It was here, with peace of mind, that Wesley So thrived and consistently climbed up the ratings ladder.

He has never turned his back on the Philippines. In all the prize ceremonies for his victories Wesley would wear a Barong Tagalog and proudly declare that he is a Filipino. The flag on his jacket is USA, but he heart in his chest is always Filipino.

Heck, even the US players have not fully embraced Wesley So as their representative. Remember the series of articles which claimed that the US Chess Federation was “buying nerds?” That was the title of an article that appeared on the front page of the Sports section of the New York Times in March 2015. Written by former chess columnist Dylan Loeb McClain, it talks about the supposed efforts underway behind the scenes to bolster the US team for international events by inducing foreign chess grandmasters to switch affiliation to the United States.

From having one player in the top 10 (Hikaru Nakamura) two others came, Fabiano Caruana (world no. 2 at that time) from Italy went back to representing the US and world no. 7 Wesley So joined the US Federation.

In fact, Fabiano Caruana was born in Miami and grew up in New York. He went back to the land of his parents, Italy, in his teens to campaign in Europe and study with the best chess coaches in the world. Caruana retained dual citizenship and so his return to the States cannot really be considered “buying nerds” — he was American in the first place.

In the case of Wesley, however, he is a Filipino through-and-through, represented our country in multiple tournaments and Olympiads and even won the Universiade hoisting our national colors. Wesley was already a very strong player rated above 2600 when he first took up studies in Webster University. And that was when his parents left him. Wesley So did not receive any sponsorship from the “buying nerds” program, if there was any such program at all — he won several tournaments in the United States which bolstered his income and decided to stay with the Kabigtings in Minnesota where he had peace of mind.

I beg our Philippine sports leaders to consider Wesley So a Filipino when next they consider the Philippine Sportswriters Awards.

By the way, Wesley So is still in very hot form. He is currently participating in the PRO Chess League, an online team tournament hosted by chess.com and so far has scored 11.5/12, including victories over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Etienne Bacrot. Games are played with a 15-minute + 2 second increment time control. Let us take a look at some of the games. Flashback to another era, the Bobby Fischer age. The following game is from the US Metropolitan Chess League, match between the Marshall and Manhattan Chess Club. It was adjudged as the second best game from Chess Informant 7 (1st half of 1969). No. 1 was game 19 of the Spassky vs Petrosian world championship match.

*** Saidy, Anthony Fred — Fischer,

Robert James [A25] Marshall v Manhattan CC, 1969 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.e3 f4!? 7.exf4 0–0 8.Nge2 Qe8 9.0–0 d6 10.Na4

Chess Informant points out that 10.Be3 is not so good because of 10...Bxe3 11.fxe3 exf4 12.exf4 Qe3+ 13.Kh1 Ng4 14.Bd5+ Kh8 15.Kg2 Qe8!, winning material.

10...Bd4 11.Nxd4 exd4 12.h3 h5! 13.a3 a5 14.b3 Qg6 15.Nb2 Bf5 16.Qc2 Nd7! 17.Re1 Nc5 18.Bf1 Ra6! 19.Bd2 Rb6 20.Bxa5 Rxb3 21.Bd2 Ra8 22.a4 Ra6! 23.a5 Kh7 24.Red1 b6 25.Be1 bxa5 26. Na4 Rxd3! 27. Bxd3 Bxd3 28.Qa2 Nb4 29.Qa3 Nc2 30.Qb2 Nxa1 31.Rxa1 Nxa4 32.Rxa4 Qe4

The bishop cannot be saved as 33.Qd2 Rb6 34.Ra1 Bxc4 is dead lost. Neither will 33.Bd2 Rb6 suffice.

A famous Fischer brilliancy. This game came to mind when I saw the following Wesley So victory.

Remy Degraeve is a very experienced French master who is a regular in their team tournaments. He has a dangerous tactical style which has scored upsets over many highly-rated players.

[5...d6 6.d3 e6 7.f5 would give us the Saidy-Fischer game with colors reversed]

The reason why Wesley’s move order is more accurate — the d-pawn goes to d5 in one move rather than two. [15.Qxh7?? Rh8 queen is trapped] Simply refuting White’s play. [p20.cxd4? Rxf1#] Chess.com,

The Frenchman GM Vachier-Lagrave is a tough customer and in fact was the one who eliminated Wesley So in the 4th round of the 2015 World Cup — a really painful loss as the winner went on the quarterfinals, the very prestigious final 8. The following win must have felt really good.

*** So, Wesley (2808) — Vachier Lagrave, Maxime (2796) [D02] PRO League Chess.com, 11.02.2017 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.b4 0–0 6.Bb2 Bf5 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0–0 c6 9.a4 Ne4 10.c4 Re8 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.Nxe4 Bxe4 13.Qb3 Rc8 14.Rac1 Nf6 15.Ne5 Bf5 16.f3 h5 17.Rxc8 Qxc8 18.Rc1 Qb8 19.b5 Rc8 20.Rxc8+ Qxc8 21.Qc3 Qxc3 22.Bxc3 Ne8 23.Bb4 f6 24.Nd3 Bxd3 25.Bxd3 Kf7 26.a5 b6

Wesley was threatening Bc5 which wins a pawn.

POSITION ATER 27...AXB6

28.Bc5! bxc5 29.b6! [29.dxc5? is met by 29...f5! and Be5 and Black’s White’s pawns are contained]

[29...Nd6 30.dxc5 Ke6 (30...Bh6 31.Kf2) 31.c6! followed by b6–b7]

MVL is up to his tricks. If 31. b7 then 31...cxd3 32.b8Q d2 33.Qb1 Nd6 is likely a fortress. 34.Kf1 Nc4 35.Ke2 f5 it is not clear how White can penetrate Black’s position.

Black’s pawns are going to start dropping.