Paris Grand Chess Tour: Wesley So Leads Again

Photo: Lennart Ootes

Wesley So is not only currently the sole leader at Paris GCT, but he got there with 5 decisive games out of 6 rounds. This is an impressive display of fighting chess, especially compared to his closest rivals, Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin, who have 4 draws each. One of So's most impressive games was his victory against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. It's rare that you see a queen so effectively dominated by a rook and bishop.

[pgn][Event "Grand Chess Tour Paris (Rapid)"] [Site "Paris FRA"] [Date "2018.06.20"] [Round "3"] [White "Wesley So"] [Black "Maxime Vachier-Lagrave"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A04"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2789"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3q4/4rpkp/1Q1p1bp1/p1pB1p2/2P2P2/1P4P1/P2P1P1P/4R1K1 w - - 0 25"] [PlyCount "21"] [EventDate "2018.06.20"]25. Rxe7 $1 {So happily goes for the Rook + Bishop vs. Queen ending (with a couple extra pawns).} Qxb6 26. Rxf7+ Kh8 27. Rf8+ Kg7 28. Rf7+ Kh8 29. Rxf6 Qb4 30. Rxd6 Qxd2 31. Rc6 Qd4 32. Kg2 Kg7 33. Rc7+ Kh8 34. h4 h5 35. a4 {and Black resigned. MVL is in zugzwang and losing the c5 pawn, which allows So a powerful passed c-pawn.} 1-0[/pgn]