Wesley So, 21, Filipino chess grandmaster currently playing for the US, won the Millionaire Chess Tourn-ament in Las Vegas recently and walked away with a tantalizing first prize of US$100,000. It was the largest first prize in the history of open tournaments.
Six hundred entries were received from 39 countries, with each participant expending US$1,000 to play the tournament.
Six sections were offered in the competition and entries were measured according to their FIDE rank. The tournament therefore, gave an equal opportunity to each of its participants to win a part of the $1 million on offer. It was the brainchild of grandmaster Maurice Ashley and his partner Amy Lee. The idea behind the Millionaire Chess Tournament is to raise the profile of the game.
It has a 1,500-year history,’’ Lee said, “and it has not been recognised at the level that I believe it should be.”
According to grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek writing in the Huffington Post, the idea of big money in chess is nothing new.
In 1972, during an interview for the Voice of America, Bobby Fischer told Kavalek: “When people start to read about $100,000 prize money, I think they are going to get interested in the game. That’s the way our system works.” That was in 1972.
Millionaire Chess boasted a different kind of format compared to the usual Swiss-system formula.
After seven rounds in the Open Section, the top four performers clashed in a semi-final match. So and his college roommate Ray Robson eliminated their two Chinese competitors. The final was a two-game shootout. The first game was drawn, but So prevailed in the last game thereby making him the winner of the tournament. Robson collected US$50,000 for his efforts.
Interestingly, So and Robson play for the Webster University team and are coached by Susan Polgar, one of the famous Polgar sisters. So is likely to enter the world’s top ten list following his performance in Las Vegas. If that happens in the FIDE November rankings, the US would have two players in the top ten: So and Hikaru Nakamura.
In other news, the second stage of the FIDE 2014-2015 Grand Prix is being contested in Tash-kent, Uzbekistan and runs until November 3.
Some of the strongest chess players in the world are participating and we should see some entertaining games. Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand tied for first place in the previous Grand Prix, and both individuals are playing again.
There is no activity on the local chess front. When this happens, local chess players are fond of saying, “All’s quiet on the western front.”
The silence is not deafening, it’s overbearing. The National Junior and Senior Championships, in addition to the National Schools’ Championship are still to be played. Couldn’t we get busy and once again push chess into the limelight where it unquestionably belongs?
Chess games
The following games were played at the 2014 Millionaire Chess Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, three weeks ago.
[White “Samuel Shankland”]
[Black “Irina Krush”]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Nb3 a6 9. a4 Nf6 10. Qe2 Qc7 11. Rd1 Bd7 12. Nbxd4 Be7 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. Ne5 Be4 15. Bf4 Qc5 16. c3 Rd8 17. Rxd8+ Bxd8 18. Rd1 Bc7 19. b4 Qe7 20. Nd7 Bxf4 21. Nxf6+ Qxf6 22. Qxe4 O-O 23. 
Rd7 Bb8 24. Rxb7 Qxc3 25. g3 Bd6 26. Kg2 a5 27. bxa5 Qxa5 28. Bxe6 Bc7 29. Bb3 Qc5 30. Rb5 Qd6 31. Qc4 Bb6 32. a5 Bd8 33. Qd5 Qf6 34. Rb7 g6 35. a6 Bb6 36. Qf3 Qxf3+ 37. Kxf3 Bc5 38. a7 Kh8 39. Rb8 1-0 .
[White “Alexander Ivanov”]
[Black “Wesley So”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. O-O Rc8 8. c4 e5 9. Qd3 b5 10. Na3 Qb6 11. Be3 Qb7 12. Nd2 Be7 13. Rac1 Nf6 14. Bg5 Nh5 15. Bxe7 Kxe7 16. g3 Nf6 17. Rfe1 Rhd8 18. f3 Rc6 19. b3 Qb6+ 20. Kg2 Qa5 21. Nc2 Be6 22. a3 Rdc8 23. Red1 Ne8 24. Nb4 R6c7 25. Qc3 Kf8 26. Nd5 Qxc3 27. Rxc3 Bxd5 28. exd5 f5 29. Rcc1 Nf6 30. Ra1 Ke7 31. a4 bxc4 32. bxc4 Rb8 33. Rab1 Rcb7 34. Rxb7+ Rxb7 35. Rb1 Rxb1 36. Nxb1 g5 37. Nd2 g4 38. h3 gxf3+ 39. Kxf3 h5 40. a5 Nh7 41. Ke3 Nf6 42. Kf3 Kf7 43. Ke3 Kg6 44. Kf3 Nd7 45. Nb3 Kg5 46. 4+h4+K Kf6 47. Ke3 Ke7 48. Kf3 Nf6 49. Nd2 Kf7 50. Ke3 Kg6 51. Kf3 Nd7 52. Nb3 f4 53. gxf4 Kf5 54. fxe5 Nxe5+ 55. Kg3 Nxc4 56. Nd4+ Ke4 57. Ne6 Nxa5 58. Nc7 Nc4 59. Nxa6 Ne3 60. Nc7 Nxd5 61. Ne6 Ne7 62. Kf2 Nf5 63. Ng5+ Kf4 64. Nf7 0-1.
[White “Le Quang Liem”]
[Black “Eduardo Rojas Sepulveda”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c6 7. h3 Nbd7 8. Rc1 Re8 9. a3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nb6 11. Bd3 Nbd5 12. Bg3 Nxc3 13. Rxc3 Nd5 14. Rc1 Bd6 15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. dxe5 Qa5+ 17. Qd2 Qxd2+ 18. Kxd2 Bd7 19. e4 Ne7 20. Ke3 b6 21. Rhd1 c5 22. Bc4 Bc6 23. Rd6 h6 24. h4 Rad8 25. Ba6 f6 26. b4 fxe5 27. bxc5 bxc5 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Rxc5 Rd4 30. Bd3 Ra4 31. Bxe5 Kf7 32. Bd6 1-0 .
[White “Ray Robson”]
[Black “David Berczes”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Nd7 12. Nbd2 exd4 13. cxd4 Re8 14. d5 Bf6 15. Rb1 Ra7 16. Nf1 Nc4 17. Ng3 g6 18. b3 Ncb6 19. a4 Ne5 20. Nh2 Bh4 21. Nhf1 f6 22. f4 Nf7 23. Be3 b4 24. a5 Na8 25. Ra1 Nc7 26. Qd2 Nb5 27. Bf2 Rae7 28. Bd3 Nc3 29. Re3 Nh6 30. Rae1 Nf7 31. Bc2 Qxa5 32. Nh2 Qa2 33. Nf3 Bxg3 34. Bxg3 Nxd5 35. Rd3 Nc7 36. f5 Nb5 37. fxg6 hxg6 38. Qf2 Na3 39. Re2 Nxc2 40. Rxc2 Qb1+ 41. Kh2 Rxe4 42. Bxd6 Bf5 43. Rcd2 R4e6 44. Rd1 Qxd3 45. Rxd3 Bxd3 46. Bxc5 Rc6 47. Bxb4 Re2 48. Qa7 Be4 49. Qe7 Ne5 50. Qf8+ Kh7 51. Qe7+ Kg8 52. Kg3 Rcc2 53. Qf8+ Kh7 54. Qe7+ Kh6 55. Qxf6 Rxg2+ 56. Kf4 Kh7 57. Qe7+ Kg8 58. Nxe5 Bf5 59. Ng4 Bxg4 60. hxg4 Rcf2+ 61. Kg5 Rf5+ 62. Kxg6 1-0.
