Wesley So tames Levon Aronian, nears American Cup crown

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So moved closer to the 2026 American Cup crown with a victory over Levon Aronian in Game 1 of the grand finals on Tuesday, March 10 (Wednesday, March 11, Manila time) at the Saint Louis Chess Club in St. Louis, Missouri.

Handling white, the Filipino-born Super Grandmaster forced the third-seeded Armenian-American to resign after 42 moves of an Italian Opening, needing just a draw in Game 2 on Wednesday to claim his first title and the $75,000 champion’s purse in the elite eight-man double elimination event.

The 31-year-old So, who received a bonus of $15,000 for topping the winner’s bracket over top seed Fabiano Caruana, placed second to Hikaru Nakamura in the 2023 American Cup and to Aronian in the 2024 edition.

Coming from the loser’s bracket before besting Caruana, 2.5-1.5, in the elimination final next Monday, Aronian must win in their second classical game to force the blitz playoffs.

Granting that Aronian prevails in both instances, So will still have another crack at the title with the grand final reset on Thursday.

In the post-game interview with Chess.com, So — formerly of Bacoor, Cavite, before assuming United States citizenship in 2021 — sounded surprised with his clinical triumph.

“I’m very shocked with the win today. I thought we’d make two draws and go to the playoffs,” said So, who climbed to No. 7 in the live world ratings with an Elo 2754.3.

Noting that Aronian seems to be tired from more playoffs and tiebreaks, So said he needs to play good chess and hope that his long-time rival doesn’t hit peak form. – Rappler.com