Wesley So in Hamburg

by Albert Silver
6/26/2015 – While travelling from Prague to Hamburg, GM Wesley So took the opportunity to visit the ChessBase headquarters in Hamburg. There he met the ChessBase family, was able to see the offices and studio, and enjoyed some one-on-one instruction with resident experts to finetune his understanding of the indispensable program. He also popped in the studio and kibitzed on the Norway games.

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Visiting ChessBase in Hamburg on the way from Prague to Hamburg...

Wow, you can really do that? Learning advanced functions from resident expert Pascal Simon.
Watch Wesley pick up some rating points after these advanced lessons with ChessBase.

Joined by GMs Erwin l'Ami, who is currently recording two new Fritztrainers, and Karsten
Müller, whose DVDs Wesley has studied keenly ("since I was fifteen!")

Karsten and Erwin were doing live commentary on the games in Stavanger...

... and were glad when Wesley "barged in". It made for some very interesting analysis.

 

 

A video excerpt of Wesley So analyzing Norway 2015 with GMs Karsten Mueller and Erwin L'Ami as seen
by the Playchess viewers

About Wesley So

Wesley Barbasa So (born October 9, 1993 in Bacoor, Philippines) is a Filipino chess grandmaster representing the United States. In October 2008, he became the youngest player to pass 2600 Elo rating, breaking the record held by Magnus Carlsen.

At the age of sixteen, So became one of the stories of the 2009 Chess World Cup held in Khanty-Mansiysk after progressing to the fourth round before being knocked out by Vladimir Malakhov after rapid tiebreaks. He defeated Gadir Guseinov after rapid tiebreaks then defeated the experienced Vassily Ivanchuk and Gata Kamsky.

In early 2013, So passed the "elite" 2700 rating, which heralded a superb year in 2014 starting with first place at the winning the ACP Golden Classic tournament in Bergamo, Italy and then the 49th Capablanca Memorial tournament, held in Havana, a point clear of Lazaro Bruzon. After another win in the Millionaire Chess Open and tying for second place at the 2015 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, he made his first appearance in the Top Ten. (source: Wikipedia)

Here is a delightful win in 2006, when he was just 13 over Michael Prusikin, rated 2560 FIDE:

[Event "Bayern-chI Bank Hofmann 10th"] [Site "Bad Wiessee"] [Date "2006.11.08"] [Round "5"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Prusikin, Michael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C14"] [WhiteElo "2411"] [BlackElo "2560"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rn3rk1/3n4/1p2pqp1/p2p2Np/3p1P2/2PQN3/PP4PP/4RRK1 w - - 0 19"] [PlyCount "23"] [EventDate "2006.11.04"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "GER"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.11.23"] 19. Nxe6 $3 Qxe6 (19... dxe3 $2 20. Nxf8 Kxf8 (20... Nxf8 {loses the rook after } 21. Qxd5+ Qf7 22. Qxa8) 21. Qxd5 Qc6 {and because of the hampered and undeveloped pieces, Black is unable to defend himself.} 22. Qg5 Nf6 23. Rxe3 Nbd7 24. f5 $1 {and the f-file will open with deadly effect.}) 20. Nxd5 {A key move.} Qf7 (20... Qxd5 {just leads to mate.} 21. Qxg6+ Kh8 22. Re7) 21. Re7 ( 21. Ne7+ {is more efficient but the text does not change the evaluation.} Kg7 22. f5) 21... Qf5 22. Qxd4 Nf6 23. Re5 Qd7 24. Qd3 Nxd5 25. Qxg6+ Qg7 26. Qe6+ Qf7 27. Qh6 Qf6 28. Rg5+ Kf7 29. Qh7+ Ke8 30. Rxd5 1-0
Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.

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guest1227491 guest1227491 6/28/2015 12:48
@genem Beating Karpov, and coming close vs. Kasparov might have had something to do with it.
genem genem 6/27/2015 08:26
"In October 2008, he became the youngest player to pass 2600 Elo rating, breaking the record held by Magnus Carlsen."

And yet when Carlsen was young it always seemed from magazine reports that the chess experts correctly foresaw that Carlsen would rise to the very top and become champion rather soon.

Why is it that the experts did not feel quite as hopeful for W.So?

How did the experts know and understand the different potentials of these two great players?
KrushonIrina KrushonIrina 6/27/2015 06:59
Damn, love the shirt.
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