Wesley takes on world No. 1 Carlsen in Banter Series final
For Grandmaster Wesley So to realize his dream of becoming a world champion in the future, he must get used to beating the player he is striving to dethrone — Magnus Carlsen.
So faces Carlsen once again, this time in the Chess24 Banter Series Final tomorrow.
So, the Philippines’ former No. 1 player who is now representing the United States, smashed former Webster University teammate Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, 6-3, to arrange a title showdown with Carlsen.
Carlsen was coming off a 2-0 deficit in turning back Armenian Levon Aronian, 5.5-2.5 for the other spot in the finals.
It will be a match between the reigning world champions of standard, rapid and blitz (Carlsen) and Fischer Random (So) although the tournament format applied here is blitz (three minutes, two-second increment) which should give Carlsen the big edge.
Interestingly, both So and Carlsen ended up co-champions of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament a week ago.
So made it this far by edging French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 6-4, that he highlighted with four wins in row while Carlsen routed Dutch Anis Giri, 5.5-1.5.
The winner in this event, which allows participants to stream and commentate their games live, will take home $12,000 (1600,000) while the runner up $6,000 (P300,000).
Meanwhile, the Armenia Eagles shocked Wesley So-led Saint Louis Arch Bishops 9.5-6.5 Sunday to capture the 2020 Professional Chess League held online.
Tied at 6-all going into the fourth and final four-game round, the Armenians showed nerves of steel in hacking out a 3.5-0.5 result en route to the victory.
Armenia’s Indian reinforcement Parham Maghsoodloo, and Tigran Petrosian highlighted the team’s triumph by besting GM Fabiano Caruana and So.
Meanwhile, So is in the running for the league Most Valuable Player after coming through with a leaguebest tournament performance rating of 2825 on 24.5 points out of 32 outings.