Wesley So Wins Chessable Masters 2021
GM Wesley So dominated the first day of the finals of the Chessable Masters by defeating GM Le Quang Liem twice. On the second day, he scored 2-2 to clinch the tournament.
In the match for third place, GM Artemiev Vladislav and GM Levon Aronian scored 2-2 on the first day, and Artemiev outplayed Aronian on the second by winning two games.
The games of the Chessable Masters knockout can be found here as part of our live events platform.
So-Liem 2.5-1.5 | 2-2
On the first day of the finals, So succeeded in launching two successful attacks on Le's king. In the interview, So shared that he knows Le's style very well as they have played some sparring games in the past. It was a deliberate attempt by So to play sharp lines to combat his opponent's solid style.
"In all games, his king was a bit exposed, and I just managed to come out with an attack out of nowhere," said So after winning on the first day.
On the 33rd move, Le missed a chance to neutralize the attack and went wrong with 33...c5. This allowed So to launch a devastating attack:
In the second game, Le missed a way to create great winning chances and drew the game by repetition:
Kasparov once remarked that the knight on f5 is worth a pawn. In the third game, So's knight landed on f5 again and created a deja vu effect:
On the second day, Le got off to a dream start as he won the first game with the white pieces. The turning point in the game was after So's blunder on the 25th move:
Their second game ended in a draw with crazy perpetual checks:
The third game wasn't free of errors but was intense. So exploited the drawback of Le's 37th move and won the game. So revealed in the post-match interview that he was in jovial spirits after this moment and was actually humming a song of John Lennon.
Le came very close to making a comeback in the final game. By capturing the wrong pawn, he allowed So to simplify matters:
After winning the event, So said: "Was a very tough match today. In these events, the toughest opponent is Magnus. But, in this tournament Le was playing at that level. So nothing came easy today. Every game was difficult for me. I think I didn't play my best. I had so many misses and blunders. At some point, I was ready to play the blitz. In the third game, I was playing with nothing to lose. So I was just going for an attack with black. I was mentally ready to play blitz games. Le is a fantastic player and nothing came easy today."
Artemiev-Aronian 2-2 | 2.5-0.5
On the first day of the finals, the score was tied 2-2. Aronian won the first game after Artemiev blundered in a drawn position:
After drawing the second and third game, Artemiev won the fourth game and equalized the scores:
On the second day, the players started with a draw. Artemiev was very consistent with his play. After winning the second game as Black, he made full use of his white pieces and never gave any chance to Aronian:
All Games Days 8 & 9
The Chessable Masters ran July 31-August 8, 2021 on chess24. The preliminary phase was a 16-player rapid (15|10) round-robin. The top eight players advanced to a six-day knockout that consisted of two days of four-game rapid matches, which advanced to blitz (5|3) and armageddon (White had five minutes, Black four with no increment) tiebreaks only if a knockout match was tied after the second day. The prize fund was $100,000, including a $30,000 first prize.
Previous reports:
- Chessable Masters SF: Le, So Through To Finals
- Chessable Masters SF: Le Shocks Aronian With Queen Sac Checkmate
- Chessable Masters QF: Aronian, Artemiev, Le, So Through To Semis
- Chessable Masters QF: Must-Win For Firouzja, Mamedyarov
- Chessable Masters Days 2-3: So Tops Preliminaries
- Chessable Masters Day 1: So Leads; Tough Start For Mishra
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