By Kristel Satumbaga
For Grandmaster Wesley So to realize his dream of becoming a world champion in the future, he has to master the moves of the player he is aching to dethrone—Magnus Carlsen.
So hopes to start that when he faces Carlsen once again, this time in the Chess24 Banter Series Final set on Wednesday.
So, the country’s 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.
The format gives Carlsen the edge since he’s a master in blitz while So is almost unbeatable at Fischer Random.
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 capped his four-win streak while Carlsen routed Dutch Anis Giri, 5.5-1.5.
The winner in this event, which gives participants to stream and commentate their games live, will take home $12,000 (roughly P600,000) while the runner up gets $6,000 (rougly P300,000).
