Profile of the world’s youngest GM

Meet the world’s youngest chess grandmaster

Fourteen-year-old Wesley So is the world’s youngest chess grandmaster, and the seventh youngest GM in chess history.Wesley So is a fine chess prodigy. With a FIDE rating of 2540, he is the highest ranked chess player in the Philippines, only sharing the top spot with legendary Filipino GM Eugene Torre.

Born in Manila on October 9, 1993 to accountants William and Eleanor So, Wesley So was raised in a conservative Filipino family. He was aged 6 when his father taught him to play chess, and aged 9 when he started to compete in junior active chess tournaments. His aggressive style caught the attention of professional chess players, including former Philippine chess champion IM Rodolfo Tan Cardoso. Cardoso remarked, “The young lad… would sacrifice a queen or any other pieces in his arsenal to get a winning attack.” He also noticed that So did not have the full sponsorships enjoyed by the other chess prodigies, saying “He cannot afford a decent training given by well known GM-coaches and has to rely on his pure talent, diligence…before competing.”

In 2006, he became the youngest member (age 12) of the national men’s team to participate at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. Later that year, he became the youngest National Open Chess Champion. In May 2007, he became the youngest National Junior Open Chess Champion. So won the gold medal on board one at the 2007 World Under 16 Team Championship with a score of 9.5/10. Based on the October 2007 FIDE rating list, So was considered to be the world’s strongest chess player in his age group (players born in 1993 and later). With an ELO rating of 2531, he ranks ahead of Chinese WGM Hou Yifan (born 1994, ELO 2502) and Indian GM Parimarjan Negi (born 1993, ELO 2514).

So achieved his final Grandmaster norm on December 8, 2007 at the 3rd Pichay Cup International Open, emerging as the youngest Filipino GM at the age of 14 years, 1 month, and 28 days. He also became the 7th youngest to achieve the GM title in chess history, narrowly beating French GM Etienne Bacrot by a few days. On April 2008, his rating of 2540 makes him the highest ranked chess player in the Philippines, slightly ahead of famous Filipino GMs Mark Paragua, Bong Villamayor, Nelson Mariano and Darwin Laylo.

Recently, So shared the top spot with Filipino GM Eugene Torre in the Philippines’ “Battle of GMs” last April 19-30, 2008. He also won the title in the $45,000 Dubai Open Chess Championships, “The Sheikh Rashed Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum Cup”, at the Dubai Chess Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He finished with 7.0 points on 6 wins, one loss and two draws after 9 games. He won a fourth ($4,500) of the combined prize of $18,000.

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