Youngest to reach 2600

So youngest to breach 2600
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:16:00 10/05/2008

MANILA, Philippines—From youngest to brightest.

A few days before turning 15 years old, Wesley So, currently the world’s youngest Grandmaster, added another entry to his sterling credentials by becoming the youngest ever player to breach the 2600 rating of the World Chess Federation.

In its third quarterly rating released recently, the Fide gave the pride of Cavite, an Elo of 2610, the highest among Filipinos in the list.

The big jump from So’s July rating of 2577 can be attributed to his ninth place finish in this year’s World Junior Championship (for players 20 and under) and his dominating performance in the World Under-16 Olympiad where he repeated as board one gold medalist and powered the Philippines to third place behind India and Russia.

Actually, So’s rating soared to 2624 in August, the highest ever for a Filipino, but his rating dipped a little last month after the back-to-back 3rd PGMA Cup and the 4th Prospero Pichay Cup held in Manila.

At this stage of his career, So is doing even better than Norwegian 17-year-old sensation Magnus Carlsen, the world No. 4 with an Elo of 2786. Carlsen was below 2600 at So’s age.

So will spearhead the Philippine team to the 38th Chess Olympiad slated Nov. 12-25 in Dresden, Germany.

Official Olympiad Website: www.Dresden2008.com

Source: http://sports.inquirer.net/