Fil-Am Wesley So Gifts Carlsen Defeat For His 30th Birthday, Clinching 1st
WESLEY SO GIFTS CARLSEN DEFEAT – Filipino-American Grandmaster Wesley So gifts World Champion Magnus Carlsen 2nd place to win the Skilling Open.
Following his victory, Wesley apologized to Carlsen “I have to apologize to Magnus for semi-ruining his birthday!”. Earlier in the day, Carlsen’s 30th birthday was going perfectly, especially after winning the 1st game of the day with black pieces.
However, the World Champion’s winning spree was thwarted after So won Game 2. Quickly enough, So’s signature smile seemingly vanished as the Fil-Am chess player had his eyes focused on winning Game 3.
Still, being the World Champion that he is, Carlsen managed to take a quick draw in the third and fourth games. You can watch the replays of the games below:
Meanwhile, here’s the commentary of Tania Sachdev and Peter Leko, joined in Game 3 by 14th World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik.
Carlsen failed to defeat so during the second blitz game of the playoff causing an Armageddon decider. But, after an insane 9 days of top-tier chess plays, Wesley So did what was seemingly impossible – thwarting the World Champion.
With this victory, Wesley So is now leading the pack in the $1.5 million Championship Chess Tour with 46 points. He gained 40 for winning the finals and 6 for placing third during the prelim stages.
Meanwhile, Magnus gets 30 points (20 for his 2nd place rank and 10 for winning the prelims).
Following this, the next tour would be the first major. This time, everything will be double with the prize fund going up to $200,000. Moreover, 100 points would be up for grabs for each player starting on December 26.
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