Wesley So, Not So Boring After All

GM Wesley So has sometimes been accused of playing boring chess. He's a lovely guy, but let's be honest, he's never been a hellraiser on the board, and certainly not off it.

But there was nothing remotely dull about the way So won his fourth U.S. Championship title in Saint Louis this week.

The 33-year-old American looked certain to become champion when he entered Wednesday's final round with a full-point lead, needing only a draw against GM Samuel Sevian.

Instead, So set up a nerve-jangling finish to the event when he lost to the player at the bottom of the standings, ending a remarkable 48-game unbeaten run at the US Championships.

Meanwhile, defending champion GM Fabiano Caruana beat GM Awonder Liang to catch So on 7/11 and force a playoff.

What followed was a sleepless night and, on Thursday, a remarkable recovery.

"I didn't sleep well at all... only two or three hours," So admitted afterwards.

Asked how he had spent the night, he gave an even more revealing answer: "Just feel sorry for myself 90 percent of the time."

Yet when the two Americans returned to the board, it was So who prevailed, drawing the first rapid game before winning the second to take the playoff 1.5-0.5.

The victory earned him $56,000 and his first national title since 2021.

Too Boring For Magnus?

So has long had a reputation as one of the most solid players in elite chess.

Earlier this year, he made headlines when he questioned the invitation system for the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, suggesting that he and GM Anish Giri had been overlooked by events associated with world number-one GM Magnus Carlsen.

"I'm not particularly surprised, because I never get invited to Magnus Carlsen's events," So told The Indian Express.

He argued that the original Freestyle Chess Grand Slam had relied heavily on handpicked players, making its subsequent qualification system questionable.

There was an irony in his absence: So had beaten Carlsen himself to win the inaugural FIDE Fischer Random World Championship in 2019.

But whatever anyone thinks of his playing style, the events in Saint Louis demonstrated that So can certainly provide drama.

From Disaster To Champion

So's defeat against Sevian was all the more surprising because he had gone ten rounds unbeaten and appeared to have the championship under control.

Sevian, meanwhile, had failed to win any of his previous ten games.

So was generous towards his opponent afterwards.

"Kudos to Sam. He had a very tough tournament. I was shocked with the way he played a really good game, but I also played very badly."

The playoff against Caruana was hardly flawless either.

So missed a winning continuation in the first rapid game, allowing Caruana to escape with a draw.

But in the second, playing White, he seized the initiative after Caruana gambled on an ambitious opening and eventually won a piece.

Caruana resigned, ending his run of four consecutive US Championship titles.

So was candid about the standard of the playoff, describing it as "very poor quality for both of us. So many blunders and so many mistakes."

"In the end, I was really on my last breath. I was literally seeing 10 pawns for Black; my mind was all over the place. But I think Fabi was extremely tired too."

The new U.S. Champion is certainly not boring.