So is local king of Sport of Kings
By Reuel Vidal | Posted on July 08, 2012 | 12:01am
Chess is the Sport of Kings and it’s local king is 19-year-old Wesley So of Bacoor, Cavite.
The highest accolade for a chess player is to earn the title of grandmaster. In the history of the sport the Philippines has produced only 16 grandmasters. Born October 9, 1993 Wesley is the country’s highest rated grandmaster with an Elo rating of 2653.
Wesley was six years old when his father taught him to play chess. He was nine years old when he started to compete in chess tournaments where he displayed an aggressive, tactical style.
He won his first major tournament by grabbing 1st place at the 2003 Philippine National Chess Championships for the under 10 age group. From then on he went from triumph to triumph both in the local and international stage.
At the age of 12 Wesley became the youngest member of a national men’s team to compete at the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy in 2006. In December of the same year he became the youngest winner of the country’s National Open Chess Championship.
In May 2007 he became the youngest National Junior Open Chess Champion. Wesley also conquered in the international stage by winning the gold medal on board one at the 2007 World Under 16 Team Championship in Antalya, Turkey.
In October 2008 Wesley earned an Elo rating of 2610 and became the youngest player in the history of the game to break the 2600 Elo barrier. The following year he hiked his rating to 2627 which is a Philippine national record surpassing the 2621 Elo rating of GM Mark Paragua.
Wesley’s present Elo rating of 2653 not only makes him the top-ranked player in the Philippines, but also the no.4 for Under-20 chess players in the world.
Wesley earned his grandmaster title by winning the 2nd Pichay Open Chess Tournament in Manila on December 7, 2007. He is the eighth youngest chess player to achieve the grandmaster title in chess history by becoming a grandmaster at 14 years and one month.
This compares favorably with the feat of Bobby Fischer, widely considered to be the greatest chess player in history, who became a grandmaster at 15 years and seven months.
The 40th Chess Olympiad, the biggest and most prestigious team chess competition in the world, will be held this coming August in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Philippines has traditionally been competitive in previous Olympiads. This year there will be the deepest pool grandmasters to choose from. These Filipino GMs include Eugene Torre, Nelson Mariano, Mark Paragua, John Paul Gomez, Joseph Sanchez, Rogelio Barcenilla, Roland Salvador, Julio Catalino Sadorra, Oliver Barbosa and Richard Bitoon.
The country’s best finish in the chess Olympiad was in the 1988 Thessaloniki Olympiad where the Philippines placed seventh. But with local chess king Wesley So leading the charge of our local grandmasters then anything’s possible come the next chess Olympiad.
Source: http://manilastandardtoday.com
Go Wesley!
Go on wesley Whoop whoop