Manila : Chess – Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So (USA) falls to No.8 in world rankings
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Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So dropped to eighth place in the last world rankings of the International Chess Federation.
The 23-year old Cavite City pride fell six spots from his previous ranking with a rating of 2792.
So reached the semifinals of the prestigious World Chess Cup held in Tbilisi, Georgia where he scored victories over GM Joshua Daniel Ruiz Castillo of Colombia in the first round, GM Matthias Blubaum of Germany in the second round, GM Pons Francisco Vallejo of Span in the third round, GM Baadur Jobava of Georgia in the fourth round and GM Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia in the quarterfinals.
However, the Filipino chess wizard absorbed a heartbreaking 2.5-3.5 loss to GM Ding Liren of China in the Final Four to settle for a $50,000 consolation purse.
Prior to the World Cup, So had a forgettable ninth-place finish in the Sinquefield Cup – a part of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour.
So scored just one win, settled for four draws and lost in four crucial matches.
World champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway is still at the top spot with 2827 rating while former No. 8 French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave climbed to the No. 2 position with 2804.
Russian GM is at No. 3 with 2803 followed by reigning World Cup champion GM Levon Aronian of Armenia (2802), GM Fabiano Caruana of US (2799), GM Shahriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan (2797) and GM Viswanathan Anand of India (2794).
Completing the Top 10 are GM Alexander Grischuk of Russia (2788) and GM Hikaru Nakamura of US (2781). EMIL C. NOGUERA
Courtesy: BY THE MANILA TIMES ON
