Wesley So Claims Edmondson Cup in Las Vegas

Wesley So won the National Open, part of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival held 6-9 June at the Riviera Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas. The Philippine grandmaster tied for first place with Jaan Ehlvest, Varuzhan Akobian, Alejandro Ramirez, Manuel Leon Hoyos and Enrico Sevillano, but claimed the Edmondson Cup on tiebreak.

The National Open was a 6-round Swiss event with 2-day and 3-day playing schedules, and half-point byes available for all rounds. The US $80,000 total prize fund attracted over a dozen grandmasters, including Webster students GM Wesley So and GM Ray Robson, Texas Tech student GM Elshan Moradiabadi and last year's National Open champ GM Aleksander Lenderman.

Wesley So won the Edmondson Cup, named after the founder of the tournament Ed Edmondson, by virtue of having the better tie-breaks of the six players who finished in the tie and each player collected $2,175. This way So completed a trio of victories as he also won the Blitz Open Section and US Game/10.

Here's a good win by So over GM Tamaz Gelashvili in the penultimate round.

Here's a video interview with the winner produced by US Chess Scoop:

There were many side events, including a simul by defending Champion GM Alex Lenderman and a Grandmaster Chess Camp for children and adults with instructors GM Melik Khachiyan, GM Ron Henley, GM Ben Finegold and others.

National Open 2013 | Final standings (top 30)

Game via Monroi, photo & info thanks to IA Chris Bird