By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Grandmaster Wesley So shoots for his second title as he competes in the 2020 United States Chess Championships starting Tuesday.
The 26-year-old So, born in Cavite but is now based in Minnesota, won the annual event three years ago when he edged Alexander Onischuk in a rapid playoff showdown and will be all out to repeat this year.
“Looking forward to playing against some of America’s best players in the US Chess Championships,” said So in his Facebook page Sunday.
So will compete against 12 of the US’ top chessers as the all-grandmaster tournament top seed with a FIDE rating of 2770.
He is currently the second highest ranked wood pusher in the US next to Fabiano Caruana, whose rating of 2822 is the No. 2 highest in the world next only to reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen.
Also seeing action are Leinier Dominguez Perez, Hikaru Nakamura, Samuel Sevian, Dariusz Swiercz, Elshan Moradiabadi, Sam Shankland, teenage sensation Awonder Liang, Ray Robson, Alejandro Ramirez, and Aleksandr Lenderman.
Nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Xiong, who trained for two years under US-based Filipino Julio Catalino Sadorra in 2014 and 2015, completes the super strong cast.
So’s first round foe is Lenderman.
So is coming off a couple of championships, including the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz event where shared top honors with Carlsen.
