MANILA, Philippines - Cavite-born US Grandmaster Wesley So did everything wrong in the endgame and blew a won game against Azeri GM Vasif Durarbayli and absorbed a heartbreaking 68-move defeat of an English Opening for his first loss in the Millionaire Chess Open in Las Vegas, Nevada yesterday.
The third-seeded So went on a sacrificial attack early by giving up a knight that he regained a couple of moves later to gain a pawn advantage while creating attacking chances at Durarbayli’s shattered kingside.
Up by time, material and position, So suddenly played passive, and his position turned from better to equal and then to worse after he made a series of blunders in the ensuing rook-and-pawn ending that allowed Durarbayli, whose rating of 2618 pales in comparison to So’s 2773, to escape with the win.
When So resigned, Durarbayli’s passed e-file pawn was set for promotion in one move.
It was a painful defeat for So, who celebrated his 22nd birthday the day before.
The loss knocked So, who topped last year’s staging of this same event considered the richest in the US, out of the group of leaders while sending Durarbayli in a four-way tie at the top with Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem, Chinese GM Yu Yangyi and Canadian GM Evgeny Bareev with four apiece.
Le defeated American GM Conrad Holt; Yu dumped Cuban GM Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez; and Bareev Zimbabwean beat International Master Farai Mandizha.
But it could have been So.
So fell in a big group of chessers one full point off the pace and will need draw from his experience to remain on track in his title retention drive.