Wesley So wins Philippines’ 1st Gold medal in 27th Universiade

Wesley So

Chess Grandmaster Wesley So of Webster U, registered the Philippines’ 1st ever Gold Medal in the World University Games also known as the Universiade.

The 27th Summer Universiade held in Kazan, Russia from 6-17 July 2013 comprised of 27 sports events with chess that debuted during the 2011 Summer Universaide in Shenzhen as an optional sport, was participated this year by chess players from 46 countries. The chess tournaments were held in Kazan Equestrian Complex from 9-15 July.

Seeded 3rd in the 9-round Swiss ‘Standard’ Men’s Chess event, Wesley So, scored 6.5/9 (4-wins, 5-draws, no-loss) and tied with 8 others, a 9-way tie for 1st place.

After the tie-break points have been computed, again, Wesley So tied for 1st place overall with GM Zaven Andriasian. An Armageddon playoff ensued to determine the Gold medalist where Wesley So was to play black (after losing the toss coin and Andriasian chose to play white). So forced the 2006 World Junior Chess Champion Zaven Andriasian to resign on the 51st move, an inevitable mate on the next move by black. Andriasian settled for Silver while Li Chao (the 2011 Gold medalist) took the Bronze.

With this feat, Wesley So, now do have a FIDE ‘Standard’ Live rating of 2709.6 or a 2710 come August 2013 FIDE rating publication. He gained a +1.6 in ELO points. His Rating performance (Rp) of 2714 validates his hyper-GM (2700+) status.

This also bring his streak to 63 games ‘No-Loss’ record in official FIDE rated ‘Standard’ Chess events.