MANILA,Philippines — Wesley So has achieved his goal to be a world champ as he toppled Norwegian world classical titlist Magnus Carlsen in the finale of the World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019 in Hovikodden, Norway yesterday.
The 26-year-old So crushed Carlsen, 13.5-2.5, to realize the very dream he had in mind when he left the country to move over to the United States in 2014.
Now based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, So was so dominant that he finished off Carlsen with an undefeated record of four victories and two draws, with still six rounds remaining, to claim the title in the new chess variant invented by the late great former world chess champ Robert “Bobby” Fischer to discourage too much reliance on opening memorization and promote creativity.
So sealed the deal by destroying Carlsen in just 29 moves of the second of the four scheduled “fast rapid” games.
“I’m very happy. It’s my favorite type of chess, and it hasn’t been popular until the last couple of years. I usually win tournaments the first time and never again. Magnus had a bad couple of days. If it was regular chess, he would probably have beaten me easily,” said So as quoted by the competition website.
“To me, mainly chess is art – that’s why I like Fischer Random a lot, there is a lot of creativity,” So also said, explaining why he loves Fischer Random.
“I dont have to fear that I am running into some deeply prepared line. The trouble with real chess is that people can memorize up to move 40 sometimes more, sometimes less. In order to play good chess you have to be good at different things, working with computers. I don’t like memorizing moves that I don’t understand. Here in Fischer Random you get a game, literally from the beginning,” he also said.
It was a tour de force performance by So as he won the last three of the four “slow rapid” duels that dealt a devastating blow on Carlsen’s bid to sweep all the chess titles possible, adding to his crowns in the standard and blitz in classical chess.
It also filled a hole in an already brilliant career for So, who has reached as high as No. 2 in the world rankings behind Carlsen two years ago but has yet to gain a crack at challenging the latter for the world classical title.
In Fischer Random, So smashed Carlsen four times in three days.