Wesley So seeks semifinal slot vs Duda in Elite chess

The first time they fought in this format two years ago, Wesley So proved to be Jan-Krzysztof Duda’s master.

So swept Duda in the 5-minute (5-4), 3-minute (6-2), and 1-minute sections (9-1) en route to a 20-7 rout in the semifinals of the 2018 Elite Speed Chess Championship.

On Thursday, November 19 (Friday, November 20, Philippine time), the Filipino-born So and the Polish No. 1 will tangle anew in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Elite Speed Chess Championship.

So, who competed for the Philippines in the 2006 Turin Chess Olympiad as a 12-year-old prodigy, is favored over Duda, who trounced world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana, 20-7, in the quarterfinals mainly through a dominant 8-1 victory in the bullet section.

Before switching to the US chess federation in 2014, So also won the gold medal for the Philippines in the 2013 Summer Universiade held in Kazan, Russia.

The 22-year-old Duda’s stock rose after he ended world champion Magnus Carlsen’s unbeaten streak of 125 games in a span of 2 years, 2 months and 10 days in the standard format, where So outranks him with an Elo rating of 2770 to 2743.

Duda has a higher rapid rating over So (2774-2741), but the reigning Fischer Random king holds the edge in blitz (2816-2799).

In last year’s edition of Elite Speed Chess, Duda lost to eventual champion Hikaru Nakamura, 15.5-11.5, in the quarterfinals. 

The winner between So and Duda will advance to the Final Four against the winner of the Nakamura-Vladimir Fedoseev quarterfinal tussle on December 3.

Other round of 8 matches pit Carlsen against Russian Vladislav Artemiev and Armenian No. 1 Levon Aronian against Maxime-Vachier Lagrave of France. – Rappler.com