Photo: Lennart Ootes
The 2018 Grand Chess Tour has kicked off in Belgium with Your Next Move, a rapid and blitz tournament. Wesley So currently leads convincingly with 18 points after the finish of the rapid and 9 rounds of blitz.
So dominated the rapid, going undefeated, winning 5 games, and finishing a full 3 points ahead of the field (rapid games each count as 2 points). He was especially merciless against his fellow Americans, Caruana and Nakamura, each of whom he defeated with black.
[pgn][Event "Your Next Move (Rapid)"]
[Site "Leuven BEL"]
[Date "2018.06.12"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Fabiano Caruana"]
[Black "Wesley So"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C78"]
[WhiteElo "2816"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2018.06.12"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. c3 O-O 10. Bc2 Re8 11. Re1 h6 12. Nbd2 b4 13. d4 Rb8 14. d5 bxc3 15.
bxc3 Na5 16. Ba3 c6 17. c4 Qc7 18. Bd3 Nb7 19. Nb3 a5 20. Bc1 Bg4 21. Be3 Nd7
22. h3 Bxf3 23. Qxf3 Nbc5 24. Nxc5 Nxc5 25. Bxc5 dxc5 26. Bf1 Rb4 27. Red1 Reb8
28. g3 cxd5 29. exd5 Bd6 30. h4 Qd7 31. Bd3 g6 32. g4 Qe7 33. h5 Qg5 34. hxg6
fxg6 35. Qg2 Rf8 36. Re1 Rb3 37. Re3 Rf4 38. Bf5 Rb2 39. Be6+ Kg7 40. Rf1 Rxc4
41. Qg3 Rbb4 42. Qh2 Rf4 43. Kh1 e4 44. f3 h5 45. Qh3 hxg4 46. Bxg4 Rb8 47. Qg3
Rh8+ 48. Kg2 Rxg4 0-1[/pgn]
[pgn][Event "Your Next Move (Rapid)"]
[Site "Leuven BEL"]
[Date "2018.06.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Hikaru Nakamura"]
[Black "Wesley So"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2778"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2018.06.12"]1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. b4 a5 6. c3 Bd7 7. Qb3 axb4 8. cxb4
b6 9. Bd6 Ne4 10. Qb2 Nxd6 11. cxd6 Qf6 12. Qxf6 gxf6 13. b5 Bxd6 14. a4 Ke7
15. Bd3 Rc8 16. Ne2 e5 17. f3 f5 18. Ra2 Be6 19. Rc2 Bb4+ 20. Kf1 Rxa4 21. Rxc8
Bxc8 22. Nec3 Bxc3 23. Nxc3 Ra3 24. Nxd5+ Kd6 25. Nxb6 Be6 26. Bb1 Kc5 27. Nc8
Bxc8 28. Kf2 Be6 29. g4 fxg4 30. Bxh7 Nd7 31. Rb1 Ra2+ 32. Kg3 gxf3 33. h4 f5
34. Kxf3 Nf6 0-1[/pgn]
After day 1 of the blitz, two players trail behind So by 1.5 points: Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin.
Will So be able to carry his lead to victory? Don't miss the finale tomorrow.
Catch the final day of blitz on June 16, starting at 8 a.m. EST! Watch live commentary and games here: https://grandchesstour.org/2018-grand-chess-tour/2018-your-next-move-watch-live
For more information, visit: https://grandchesstour.org/2018-grand-chess-tour/2018-your-next-move
