Hydra GM

Wesley So jumps to 7th among world juniors

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 04/01/2009 7:44 PM



Filipino chess prodigy Wesley So soared to new heights following his victorious campaign in the Battle of GMs as he climbed to seventh place overall in the latest FIDE list of the world’s top junior players.

A report posted on SportsNews.ph said the latest FIDE quarterly ratings released on April 1 showed that So has boosted his ELO rating to 2641, the highest rating achieved by a Filipino chess player.

Those ahead of So are: GMs Magnus Carlsen (ELO 2770) of Norway, Sergey Karjakin (ELO 2721) of Ukraine, Wang Hao (ELO 2696) of China, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (ELO 2684) of France, Fabiano Caruana (ELO 2649) of Italy and Li Chao (ELO 2643) of China.

Of all chess players, not just junior players, the 15-year-old So is now ranked 89th in the world together with GMs Georg Meier of Germany and Ilia Smirin of Israel.

So is also ranked No. 1 in the under-16 category and 11th overall in Asia.

So's previous high was ELO 2531 in the October 2007 rating by FIDE. He slipped to ELO 2526 in the January 2009 rating but moved up anew following his successful campaign in the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Nteherlands and the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Russia.

‘Hydra level’

So, earlier, voiced out plans to break the 2700 ELO barrier and become a “Hydra GM”.

“Pangarap ko pong makaabot ng 2700 ELO rating points,” said So.

A player beyond the 2700 ELO barrier is called a Hydra GM, which is a higher Super GM.

So and Mark Paragua (2621 ELO in 2006) are the only Filipinos who have reached the 2600 barrier.

According to Battle of GMs tournament director Willie Abalos, organizers of international competitions give “high priority” to chess players who have reache the “Hydra level.”

“Kapag narating mo ang Hydra, almost always you will be invited to international events,” he said.
as of 04/01/2009 7:45 PM