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Wesley So Overcomes Tough Competition To Win Late Tournament

Wesley So Overcomes Tough Competition To Win Late Tournament

NathanielGreen
| 3 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Vladimir Fedoseev and Wesley So were the victors in Titled Tuesday on June 21. In addition to his victory in the day's late tournament, So finished in third place early. Brothers GM Rasmus Svane and IM Frederik Svane each had a top-five finish as well.


Early Tournament

Fedoseev overcame a second-round loss in the early tournament to come back and beat the rest of the field of 345 players. The only other half-point he lost came in round seven.

Because of CM Koosha Jaferian's early win over Fedoseev, for most of the day's first event, it appeared that GM Daniil Dubov had the inside track on victory. Dubov led the field with 9/10 entering the final round, but Fedoseev used their matchup to complete his comeback.

So ended the early tournament on a four-game winning streak, including a win in the last round over GM Grigoriy Oparin. Oparin had been tied with Fedoseev on 8.5/10 entering the concluding round of games, but it was now So who finished third and gained some momentum for the late tournament.

June 21 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB
1 4 GM @Bigfish1995 Vladimir Fedoseev 3040 9.5 66.5
2 3 GM @Duhless Daniil Dubov 3050 9 67.25
3 8 GM @GMWSO Wesley So 3040 9 65.25
4 18 IM @frederiksvane Frederik Svane 2944 9 59.25
5 17 GM @Zkid Steven Zierk 2969 9 57
6 10 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 2986 8.5 52.5
7 14 GM @FormerProdigy David Navara 2967 8.5 52.25
8 20 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 2906 8.5 51
9 27 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 2918 8.5 48
10 45 GM @FGHSMN Bharath Subramaniyam 2851 8.5 43.75
11 1 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3081 8 54
12 35 IM @Kosak12 Jakub Kosakowski 2857 8 50.5
13 11 IM @DenLaz Denis Lazavik 2977 8 49
14 65 FM @Iball95 Vakhlamov Igor 2798 8 48.5
15 32 FM @honestgames Egor Lashkin 2864 8 47.5
16 9 GM @exoticprincess Baadur Jobava 2962 8 44.75
17 19 IM @Murad_Ibrahimli Murad İbrahimli 2934 8 44.5
18 7 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 2976 8 43
19 48 GM @gmcorrales Fidel Corrales Jimenez 2829 8 42.5
20 22 IM @Mykola-Bortnyk Mykola Bortnyk 2925 7.5 48.25
42 139 IM @AnotherGrumpy Anna M Sargsyan 2619 7 36.5

(Full final standings here.)

Fedoseev won $1,000 for his comeback effort as Dubov claimed $750 for second place. So won $300 for third, Frederik Svane $150 for fourth, and GM Steven Zierk the $100 fifth-place prize. IM Anna Sargsyan won the $100 prize for obtaining the highest score among women in the field.

Late Tournament

Tiebreaks were important early in deciding second place, and in the late tournament, they became decisive up to first place in a field of 288.

After seven rounds, Rasmus Svane was in the lead with a perfect score while there was an 11-way tie for second place on 6/7. Unfortunately for Svane, he ran into super grandmasters in the next two rounds: GM Dmitry Andreikin and So, who both won. So's victory propelled him to the top of the standings with GM Gata Kamsky, with two rounds to go.

They played a fighting draw in the tenth round, allowing GM Aryan Tari to join them in the lead with one round remaining after the Norwegian defeated GM Jeffery Xiong.

So and Tari played a quick draw in the 11th round, allowing several players to join them in first place. GM Alexander Grischuk became one of those and stopped another, by toppling Kamsky in a matchup of two players who first faced each other back in 2005.

Of the six players on nine points, So had faced the strongest opponents and was thus declared the winner.

June 21 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB
1 6 GM @GMWSO Wesley So 3040 9 60.75
2 16 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2971 9 56
3 63 GM @DanielDardha2005 Daniel Dardha 2803 9 54.25
4 4 GM @Grischuk Alexander Grischuk 3046 9 53.75
4 21 GM @AryanTari Aryan Tari 2940 9 53.75
6 15 IM @wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 2969 9 48
7 22 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2938 8.5 60.25
8 51 IM @Biranidun Brandon Clarke 2834 8.5 55.5
9 18 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 2940 8.5 52.25
10 40 IM @Bulldog167 Leon Livaic 2854 8 52.5
11 53 IM @Niclox Nicolás Abarca 2835 8 49
12 1 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3081 8 48.5
13 14 IM @MITerryble Renato Terry 2950 8 48.25
14 55 IM @hurricane7791 Pere Garriga Cazorla 2819 8 46
15 13 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 2906 8 40
16 104 FM @Rutricks Rubén Domingo Núñez 2656 8 39.5
17 135 FM @Alexei_Gubajdullin Alexei Gubajdullin 2598 8 38.5
18 131 FM @pedromartinez91 Pedro Martinez 2601 8 37.5
19 10 GM @ChristopherYoo Christopher Woojin Yoo 2981 7.5 39.25
20 30 GM @shimastream Alex Shimanov 2893 7.5 38
26 86 WGM @jinbojinbo Jiner Zhu 2655 7 39.75

(Full final standings here.)

So won the $1,000 first-place prize for a total of $1,300 on the day. Rasmus Svane won the $750 second-place prize and GM Daniel Dardha $300 for third. Grischuk earned $150 for fourth place and Tari $100 for fifth while WGM Jiner Zhu won the $100 women's prize. 

Titled Tuesday

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.

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