Wesley So Overcomes Tough Competition To Win Late Tournament
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.
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.
