Wesley wins anew, rises to world No. 12

FILIPINO Super Grandmaster Wesley So downed Canadian champion Anton Kolyakov Thursday night to grab the solo lead in the 9th Edmonton Chess Festival in Alberta, Canada.

The 20-year-old So, the tournament top seed, raised his total to 5.5 points after six rounds, breaking free from fellow Super GM and No. 2 seed Vassily Ivanchuk, who was held to a draw by GM Irina Krush and settled for 5.0.

The victory over Kolyakov (Elo 2636) boosted So’s live rating to a personal-best 2754, catapulting the Webster University student to No. 12 in the world from 14th Wednesday following his conquest of Canadian International Master Alex Yam in the fifth round.

So has so far won five matches with only Ivanchuk (Elo 2738) managing to split the point with him in the fourth round.

Kolyakov is at 3.5 points, in a tie with American GM Samuel Shankland, who got waylaid by Canadian IM Richard Wang.

Krush, the lone woman in the 10-player field was at 3.0 points with Wang.  Roy Luarca