Philippines Wasley So is 2016 Grand Chess Tour Champion

Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So won the 2016 Grand Chess Tour title after ruling the London leg on Monday.

So, the world’s No. 5 player, ended his campaign at the London Chess Classic six points from three wins and six draws.

American Fabiano Caruana was second with 51/2 points, followed by Russian Vladimir Kramnik, Indian Viswanathan Anand and American Hikaru Nakamura (5 points); Dutch Anish Giri (41/2 points); Armenian Levon Aronian, British Michael Adams and French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (4 points); and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (2 points).

So, who has an ELO rating of 2794, had accumulated 36 points at the end of the Tour. He has a total cash purse of USD295,000.

Nakamura (2779) placed second with 24.5 points and USD144,166 while Caruana was third with 23.75 points and USD108,750.

Aronian (2785) and Anand (2779) were tied for fourth with 21.75 points, followed by Vacher-Lagrave (2804) with 17.5 points, Giri (2771) and Topalov (with 10.75 points).

So left for the United States to study at the Webster College in Missouri after winning the gold medal in the 2013 Universiade Summer Games in Kazan, Russia. (PNA)CVL/JEAN T. MALANUM/SSC