Dominant So tops elite GM tourney

FILIPINO Super Grandmaster Wesley So added another sterling entry to his resume by ruling the 17th Unive Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands, with plenty to spare on Sunday.

Handling white, So (Elo 2706) drew with former world No. 4 Michael Adams (Elo 2753) of England in 21 moves of a Nimzowitch Defense in the sixth and final round to rule the elite four-man double round-robin tournament with 4.5 points, 1.5 clear of Adams, ranked 13th in the world, and rising Netherlands star Robin van Kampen (Elo 2607).

Beaten twice by So, veteran Dutch GM Loek van Wely (2693) wound up last with 1.5 points in the event won last year by American Super GM Hikaru Nakamura.

The 20-year-old So, a finance business sophomore at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, also dominated the 2013 Universiade in Kazan, Russia.

Expected to lead the Philippine team in next month’s Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar, So is now ranked 40th in the world.

In February, he topped the Reykjavik Open in Iceland and followed it up with a runaway victory in the Calgary International Chess Classic in May.

So went on to win the National Open of the Las Vegas International Chess Classic in June and reached the second round of the World Chess Cup in August. Roy Luarca