CAVITE-born Wesley So captured the Grand Chess Tour’s Paris Rapid & Blitz Tournament after a dominating performance in the second day of the blitz stage and pocketing the $37,500 champion’s purse.
Wesley earlier won the rapid phase scoring an undefeated 12 points and then the blitz with 12½ points with just one defeat. The 27-year old lost to Levon Aronian in Round 5, but avenge the loss by beating Aronian in Round 14. All told, Wesley won the event with a round to spare.
Wesley’s closest pursuer, Ian Nepomniachtchi, came in solo second, three points behind Wesley, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Aliresa Firouzja sharing third to fourth places. Aronian and Richard Rapport shared fifth to sixth slots with Fabiano Caruana and Peter Svidler sharing seventh to eight places. The tandem of Etienne Bacrot and Vladimir Kramnik came in ninth place and Teimour Radjabov brought up the rear. Kramnik came out of retirement to play the blitz stage, while his partner Bacrot competed in the rapid phase.
Action moves to Croatia come July 5 for the third leg of the $1.275 million five-event Grand Chess Tour. The first leg of the tour – the Superbet Chess Classic in Romania – was won by Shakriyar Mamedyarov, with Wesley finishing in second.
The final overall (rapid + blitz) standings: 1. So, 24½; 2. Nepomniachtchi, 21½; 3-4. Vachier-Lagrave, Firouzja, 18; 5-6. Aronian, Rapport, 17½; 7-8. Caruana, Svidler, 17; 9. Bacrot/Kramnik, 17; 10. Radjabov, 14.
So, Wesley (2770)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2760) [A33]
Paris (12.3) 2021
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.a3 Bc5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.e4 0-0 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.Be3 Rc8 12.f4 d6 13.Rc1 Qc7 14.Bf3 Rfd8 15.Nd5 exd5 16.cxd5 Qd7 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Qd4 d5 19.e5 Ne4 20.Rfd1 Qe6 21.h3 f5 22.Qd3 Bb7 23.Nd4 Qf7 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.g4 g6 26.gxf5 gxf5 27.Kh2 Kh8 28.Rg1 Rg8 29.Rxg8+ Kxg8 30.Qb5 Bc5 31.b4 Bxd4 32.Bxd4 Kf8 33.Qe2 Qg6 34.Qe1 Qh6 35.Qc1 Qg7 36.Qg1 Qxg1+ 37.Kxg1 Bc6 38.Be2 Ba4 39.Kg2 Ke7 40.Bd3 Ke6 41.Kf3 Nd2+ 42.Kg3 Nc4 43.Kh4 Be8 44.Kg5 Bg6 45.a4 Nd2 46.Kh6 Nf3 47.Bf2 Nd2 48.h4 Ne4 49.Be3 Nc3 50.a5 Na2 51.h5 Be8 52.axb6 axb6 53.Kg5 h6+ 54.Kxh6 Nxb4 55.Be2 b5 56.Kg7 Bxh5 57.Bxh5 Nc2 58.Bf7+ Kd7 59.e6+ Kd6 60.Bc5+ Kxc5 61.e7 1-0
So, Wesley (2770)-Aronian, L (2781) [D38]
Paris (14.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd6 9.Qc2 e5 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.f4 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 Qe7 14.0-0-0 Qxe3+ 15.Kb1 Qxf4 16.Bd3 Be6 17.Rhf1 Qh6 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Qxc7 Bd5 20.Bf5 Bc6 21.Rd3 Rfe8 22.Rg3+ Kf8 23.Qd6+ Re7 24.Re1 Rae8 25.Rge3 1-0
Kramnik, V (2753)-So, Wesley (2770) [C50]
Paris (15.2) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 h6 7.Re1 a6 8.a4 Ba7 9.Nbd2 g5 10.b4 Nh7 11.Kh1 0-0 12.b5 Na5 13.d4 g4 14.Ng1 exd4 15.Bb2 Nxc4 16.Nxc4 Be6 17.b6 cxb6 18.Nd2 dxc3 19.Bxc3 b5 20.f4 gxf3 21.Ndxf3 Rc8 22.Qd2 bxa4 23.Rxa4 Ng5 24.Ba1 Kh7 25.Nd4 Bd7 26.Ra3 Re8 27.Rg3 Rg8 28.Qd3 Rg6 29.Ngf3 Nxf3 30.Rxf3 Be8 31.Ref1 Rc7 32.Qd2 Qg5 33.Qf2 Rc1 34.Bb2 Rxf1+ 35.Qxf1 Qe7 36.Nf5 Qxe4 37.Nxd6 Rxd6 38.Rxf7+ Kg6 39.h3 Bxf7 0-1
So, Wesley (2770)-Firouzja, A (2759) [E49]
Paris (16.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 c6 8.Ne2 b6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.f3 Ba6 11.e4 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Qc8 13.0-0 Qa6 14.Qc2 Nc6 15.Bg5 Ne8 16.Bh4 Qc4 17.e5 f6 18.exf6 Nxf6 19.Qd2 Rae8 20.Rfe1 Nd7 21.Bg3 e5 22.dxe5 Ndxe5 23.Nf4 d4 24.Rac1 d3 25.Re4 Qc5+ 26.Kh1 Qxa3 27.Rce1 Qd6 28.h4 Qh6 29.Qa2+ 1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I (2792)-So, Wesley (2770) [A01]
Paris (18.5) 2021
1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.c4 c6 6.Nc3 Nbd7 7.d4 Ne4 8.a3 Bd6 9.Bd3 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Qe7 12.0-0 a5 13.e4 0-0 14.Bb2 dxe4 15.Qxe4 Nf6 16.Qh4 b5 17.Bc1 bxc4 18.bxc4 c5 19.a4 Rfc8 20.Be3 cxd4 21.Bxd4 Rab8 22.Bc3 Bb4 23.Be5 Bd6 24.Rfd1 Bxe5 25.Nxe5 Qc7 26.Qg5 Qc5 27.Qf4 Rb7 28.h3 h6 29.Rd3 Rcb8 30.Kh2 Rb2 31.Rf3 Qc7 32.Re1 Ra2 33.Qg3 Kh7 34.Qh4 Rbb2 35.Ree3 Re2 36.Qd4 Rxf2 37.Rxf2 Rxf2 38.c5 Nd5 39.Rg3 Rf4 40.Qb2 Rf5 41.Nf3 Nf6 42.Qb6 Rxc5 43.Qb1+ Kg8 44.Nd4 Nh5 45.Ne2 Nxg3 0-1
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rg3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nf5 2.Rg4#; 1…Rf3 2.Qxd6#; 1…c3 2.Rd3#; 1…Kxe5 2.Qe3#./PN
