Wesley now No. 7

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So moved to No. 7 in the world based on the latest FIDE’s monthly rankings with the Filipino ace now playing for the US gaining 26 points last month for a 2788 rating.

So, 21,  topped the North American Open in Las Vegas and finished second in the Tata Steel Masters behind Magnus Carlsen to emerge the biggest gainer among the world’s Top 100 after finishing at No. 28 last year to be at No. 7 in 2015.

He put up a strong performance in Tata Steel where he proved his worth by drawing Carslen and beating world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana of Italy, former World Challenger Vassily Ivanchuk and world No. 9 Levon Aronian of Armenia.

“Since January of last year, he (So) has added 69 Elo, also a fantastic rise, but what really stood out was his excellent play in the last Wijk aan Zee,” according to chessbase.com.