Wesley So is now the country’s 8th contribution to the world’s grandmaster roster and could be the youngest in the world.
A victory over GM Ehsan Maghami Ghaem of Iran in sweeping19 moves via Sicilian Najdorf in the final round of the Pichay Cup earned him his 3rd GM norm and hoisted him to the ranks.
The prodigious So now shares the elite field of grand masters like Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas, Joey Antonio, Bong Villamayor, Nelson Mariano II, Mark Paragua and this year’s new entry Darwin Laylo, who made it in the Asian tournament in Mandaue City last September.
Wesley made his first GM norm last year in the Offene Internationale Bayerische Schaha Meisterchaft in Bad Wiesse, Germany and his second norm in the World Junior Championship in Armenia this year.
In the October 2007 ratings, he was considered the strongest player in the World in his age group, born from 1993 and up.
He holds the record of being the youngest National Master in Philippine history and the youngest member of the National Men‘s team to the Chess Olympiad in Turin Italy in 2006 at age 12.He also won the gold medal in board 1 in the World Under 16 Olympiad in Singapore this year with a phenomenal score of 9.5/10.
He was born 0ct. 9, 1993 and is one of the youngest ever in the World to become grandmaster, beating the record of Bobby Fischer, Judit Polgar, Peter Leko and a host of other child GMs. (Frank Pestaño)
