So young, So good! Wesley So wins Dubai open

The world's youngest Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So has won the 10th Dubai Open Chess Championships. His final score is seven points from 9 games, the same as 3 other players GMs Gagunashvili, Ghaem Maghami, and Li but Wesley wins the Cup on account of a superior tie-break.

The victory inch the 14 year old second year high school students closer to his dreams of becoming a super grandmaster. "I felt very happy when I became a Grandmaster. Maybe I will become a model for my fellow players. My aim now is to become a super Grandmaster". He tells the local paper there. But he has his game to back up his words by beating the reigning world junior champ in round 4 and super Grandmaster in round 3.

Here are the top finishers:

1 GM So Wesley 2540 PHI 7,0
2 GM Gagunashvili Merab 2553 GEO 7,0
3 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan 2604 IRI 7,0
4 GM Li Chao B 2581 CHN 7,0

5 GM Gupta Abhijeet 2521 IND 6,5
6 GM Drozdovskij Yuri 2581 UKR 6,5
7 IM Laxman R R 2488 IND 6,5
8 GM Neverov Valeriy 2568 UKR 6,5
9 GM Arutinian David 2593 GEO 6,5
10 GM Ibrahimov Rasul 2535 AZE 6,5
11 GM Guseinov Gadir 2625 AZE 6,5
12 GM Guliev Sarhan 2487 AZE 6,5

Here is the full crosstable.

And here's a highlight match from one of So's victory.

10th Dubai Open
So Wesley
Wu Xibin
Sicilian/Najdorf/Poisoned Pawn Variation


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 Nfd7 13. Ne4 Qxa2 14. Rd1 Qd5 15. Qe3 Qxe5 16. Be2 Bc5 17. Bg3 Bxd4 18. Rxd4 Qa5+ 19. Rd2 O-O 20. Bd6 Nc6 21. O-O

After 21. 0-0

Nce5 22. Bxf8 Nxf8 23. Nd6 Bd7 24. Nxb7 Qb4 25. Nc5 Bb5 26. c3 Ng4 27. cxb4 Nxe3 28. Ra1 Rb8 29. Nxa6 Bxa6 30. Rxa6 Nd5 31. b5 Nd7 32. Ra7 N7b6 33. Rc2 g6 34. Bf3 Kg7 35. g3 h5 36. Bg2 Nc8 37. Rd7 Ncb6 38. Ra7 Nc8 39. Ra5 Nd6 40. Bf1 Rb7 41. Rb2 Nc8 42. Bg2 Ncb6 43. Ra6 Rc7 44. Bxd5 Nxd5 45. Kf2 Rb7 46. Rc6 Kf6 47. Ke2 Nc7 48. b6 Nd5 49. Kd3 Ke7 50. Kd4 Kd7 51. Kc5 Nc3 52. Rd2+ Ke8 53. Rc8+ Ke7 54. Kc6 1-0