So quits school to pursue bid for world crown

MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So has decided to drop out of Webster University and move out of coach Susan Polgar’s camp to pursue his bid to become a world chess champion.

“Reaching 2800 in the ratings is my main goal,” the 21-year-old So said in an interview at chessbase.com. “And I’m giving myself every chance to be the best that I can be.”

So, who has switched to the US Chess Federation after a spat with Philippine chess officials, is at No. 12 in the world ranking with a rating of 2762.

Under the guidance of Polgar, a former women’s world champion, So made a big leap from No. 28 at the start of the year and reached as high as No. 10 last month after topping the Millionaire Chess Open in Las Vegas where he took home $100,000, the biggest ever prize in an Open competition.

Breaching the 2800 barrier will catapult So into an elite group of reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway (2862), Italian Fabiano Caruana (2829), Russian Alexander Grischuk (2810) and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (2800).

But his main goal is to challenge for the world crown currently held by Carlsen, his contemporary and former training buddy.

So will kick off his 2015 campaign in the 77th Tata Steel Masters, a Category 20 event with an average rating of 2747, starting Jan. 9 in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.

The elite cast includes Carlsen, Caruana, defending champion Levon Aronian (2797) and reigning women’s world champion Hou Yifan of China (2673).

Also seeing action are Dutch Anish Giri (2768) and Loek Van Wely (2667), French Maxime Vachier Lagrave (2758), Polish Wotjaszek (2744), Azeri Teimour Radjabov (2734), Georgian Badur Jobava (2733), Chinese Ding Liren (2732), Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk (2715) and Croatian Ivan Saric (2679).

So finished tied for fourth on three wins, six draws and two defeats in the same tournament last year.

He then won the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba, the ACP Golden Classic in Bergamo, Italy and wound up second behind Ivanchuk in the Edmonton International Open in Alberta, Canada before romping off with the Millionaire’s crown.