So eyes No. 15 in world ranking

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So sets out for the tough Pan Am Championship set Dec. 27-30 in Lubbock, Texas, hoping to build some momentum as he gears up for the elite Tata Steel Chess early next year.

So posted five victories in the year about to end to breach the 2700 level with the Filipino whiz eyeing no less than a Top 15 ranking in 2014.

“My goal is to reach 2750 in 2014,” said So, now with a 2719 rating for world No. 30 ranking, the highest ever achieved by a Filipino.

But the 20-year-old So is out to further improve his spot, hoping to pile up precious points in top level tournaments lined up for him next year.

The spearhead of reigning NCAA Division I champion Webster U will be clashing with the top players from the best college teams from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

He will then fly straight to Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands for the Tata Steel Chess 2014 tournament where he will join 11 other super GMs invited to the Category 20 event boasting of players with super high rating average of 2743.

They include Armenian Levon Aronian (2803, second), American Hikaru Nakamura (2786, fourth), Italian Fabiano Caruana (2782, 7th) , Isreali Boris Gelfand (2777, eighth), Russian Sergey Kariakin (2756, 12th), Cuban Leinier Dominguez (2754, 14th), German Arkadi Naiditsch (2737, 18th) and Dutch Anish Giri (2734, 20th).

So’s mentor Hungarian GM Susan Polgar has emphasized the importance of having a short-term goal for her ward.

“It is best to have short term goals. In 2013, Wesley broke the 2700 level, won the World University and College Chess Final Four, etc., he just fulfilled them all. Now he will work on his goals in 2014,” said Polgar, the former women’s world champion and Olympiad gold medalist.