Wesley tops US tourney; Sevillano also shines

FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley So, living up to his lofty ranking, topped the National Open Championship of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival 2013 at Riviera Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas Sunday (Monday in Manila).

So, who posted a performance rating of Elo 2728, drew his sixth and final round match with Costa Rican GM Alejandro Ramirez to finish with 5.0 points in the company of five other GMs, including United States-based Cebuano GM Enrico Sevillano.

The 19-year-old So, however, emerged topnotcher when the tiebreak was applied, followed by GM Jean Ehlvest, GM Varuzhan Akobian, Ramirez, GM Manuel Leon Hoyos and Sevillano, who moved up by besting GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez in the sixth round.

So, taking a break from his Finance Business studies at Webster University in Missouri, Sevillano and the four other 5.0 pointers pocketed $2,175 each from the total purses from the first to sixth places of the 91-player field.

Toting a 2705 Elo in the Fide rankings, So whipped Fide Master Joel Banawa of Azerbaijan in the first round, drew with Georgian GM Giorgi Margvelashvili, then beat Russian-American GM Dimitry Gurevich, Georgian GM Mikheil Kekelidze and Georgian GM Talaz Gelashvili in succession.

In February, So wound up co-champion in the Reykjavik Open in Iceland and followed it up with a runaway victory in the Calgary International Chess Classic in Canada last month.

His string of successes is expected to serve So in good stead when he represents the country in the 2013 World Cup slated in Tromso, Norway, from Aug. 10 to Sept. 5. Roy Luarca