After a subpar 2025 season, Wesley So aims to return to the world top 10 after opening this year’s campaign with a blitz chess title in IndiaAfter a subpar 2025 season, Wesley So aims to return to the world top 10 after opening this year’s campaign with a blitz chess title in India

Wesley So savors ‘great start to the year’ with blitz chess crown

2026/01/12 22:25

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So’s pursuers tumbled in the homestretch, handing the Filipino-American Super Grandmaster the Tata Steel Chess India 2026 blitz crown without a hitch in Kolkata over the weekend.  

“Finally a win! A great start to the year,” said So after pocketing the top purse of $7,500. 

Coupled with the $2,000 he received for placing fourth in the rapid section won by Nihal Sarin on Friday, January 9, the 32-year-old So went home with a total prize of $9,500 (P562,000). 

So, the first Fischer Random world champion, is trying to recover from a disappointing 2025 season where he won only a total of $206,000 (P12.2 million) from official tournaments, and wound up dropping to No. 11 in the world rankings.

Last December 30, So wound up sixth in the season-ending FIDE World Rapid Championship won again by world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. 

This time in India, So drew with Hans Niemann in the penultimate round and moved beyond the reach of Indian No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi and No. 5 Nihal Sarin, who were derailed by R Praggnanandhaa and former world rapid titlist Volodar Murzin, respectively.

Although the Bacoor, Cavite-born  lost to Praggnanandhaa in the 18th and last round, the three-time United States champion posted 12 points, a point ahead of Sarin and Erigaisi, in the double round-robin, two-day event, including the earlier three-day rapid competition.

It was a grand comeback for So, who yielded to Vidit Gujrathi in the opener but recovered with a five-game winning run over Sarin, five-time world champion Vishy Anand, Erigaisi, Chithambaram Aravindh, and Hans Niemann to top the first round-robin with 7 points. – Rappler.com

Market Opportunity
Tranchess Logo
Tranchess Price(CHESS)
$0.02848
$0.02848$0.02848
+1.17%
USD
Tranchess (CHESS) Live Price Chart
Disclaimer: The articles reposted on this site are sourced from public platforms and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of MEXC. All rights remain with the original authors. If you believe any content infringes on third-party rights, please contact [email protected] for removal. MEXC makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content and is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided. The content does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional advice, nor should it be considered a recommendation or endorsement by MEXC.

You May Also Like

Trump and Newsom seen engaging in 'friendly banter' backstage: 'Gavin, we're good'

Trump and Newsom seen engaging in 'friendly banter' backstage: 'Gavin, we're good'

President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom engaged in a public war of words this week in Davos, Switzerland, but a Washington, D.C., insider revealed
Share
Rawstory2026/01/23 19:55
Visa Direct Enhances Mercuryo’s Real-Time Crypto-to-Fiat Conversions

Visa Direct Enhances Mercuryo’s Real-Time Crypto-to-Fiat Conversions

TLDR Mercuryo has partnered with Visa to offer near real-time crypto-to-fiat conversions through Visa Direct. The integration enables users to off-ramp cryptocurrency
Share
Coincentral2026/01/23 20:10
Vitalik Buterin lays out new Ethereum roadmap at EDCON

Vitalik Buterin lays out new Ethereum roadmap at EDCON

The post Vitalik Buterin lays out new Ethereum roadmap at EDCON appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. At EDCON 2025 in Osaka, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin delivered fresh details of Ethereum’s technical roadmap, delineating both short-term scaling goals and longer-term protocol transformations. The immediate priority, according to slides from the presentation, is scaling at the L1 level by raising the gas limit while maintaining decentralization. Tools such as block-level access lists, ZK-EVMs, gas repricing, and slot optimization were highlighted as means to improve throughput and efficiency. A central theme of the presentation was privacy, divided into protections for on-chain “writes” (transactions, voting, DeFi operations) and “reads” (retrieving blockchain state). Write privacy could be achieved through client-side zero-knowledge proofs, encrypted voting, and mixnet-based transaction relays. Read privacy efforts include trusted execution environments, private information retrieval techniques, dummy queries to obscure access patterns, and partial state nodes that reveal only necessary data. These measures aim to reduce information leakage across both ends of user interaction. In the medium term, Ethereum’s focus shifts to cross-Layer-2 interoperability. Vitalik described trustless L2 asset transfers, proof aggregation, and faster settlement mechanisms as key milestones toward a seamless rollup ecosystem. Faster slots and stronger finality, supported by techniques like erasure coding and three-stage finalization (3SF), are also in scope to enhance responsiveness and security. The roadmap also includes Stage 2 rollup advancements to strengthen verification efficiency, alongside a call for broader community participation to help build and maintain these improvements. The long-term “Lean Ethereum” blueprint emphasizes security, simplicity and optimization, with ambitions for quantum-resistant cryptography, formal verification of the protocol, and adoption of ideal primitives for hashing, signatures, and zero-knowledge proofs. Buterin stressed that these improvements are not just for scalability but to make Ethereum a stable, trustworthy foundation for the broader decentralized ecosystem. This is a developing story. This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.…
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2025/09/18 03:22