So win caps North American chess romp

Grandmaster Wesley So capped his triumph in the 24th North American Chess Championships with a final-round victory over Mongolian GM Tsegue Batchuluun Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Though assured of the title after the eighth round, the top-seeded So still went for the kill to finish with a total of 8.0 points on seven wins and two draws in the Open section that lured 94 players, including 15 Gms.

The 21-year-old So, who has given up his athletic scholarship at Webster University in Missouri to pursue his dream of breaking the 2800 Elo rating, bagged the top purse of $10,000.

The Cavite-born So, now affiliated with the United States Chess Federation, also improved his live Fide (World Chess Federation) rating to 2770.7, good for 10th in the world.

So will next face GM Hiraku Nakamura, the highest-rated US player and just above So with an Elo 2777.1 in a Death Match on Jan. 3.

Chinese GM Bu Xiangshi, American GMs Julio Becerra and Alex Yermolinsky and Bulgarian GM Vladimir Georgiev finished with 6.5 points each, 1.5 behind So, who swept his first six matches.

When the tiebreak was applied, Bu took second, Becerra third, Yermolinsky fourth and Georgiev fifth.

US-based Filipino GM Enrico Sevillano wound up with 6.0 points, good for a share of sixth to 16th places.

Also scheduled for So is the super-tough Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2015 set Jan. 9 to 25 in The Netherlands.  Roy Luarca