Wesley So Starts 7/7 and Wins Titled Tuesday Outright

GM Wesley So won Titled Tuesday on September 29, starting 7/7 and finishing on 9.5 points. It was his first victory in the weekly event this year.

The finish was quiet. The top three boards in the final round, his own included, all ended in draws, and So’s early lead was big enough to make him the outright winner.

The strike rate is worth a look. This was So’s fifth Titled Tuesday title in 75 attempts, a 6.7% win rate that Chess.com notes is better than most 10-time winners manage. In a field that regularly includes Hikaru Nakamura and a rotating cast of teenagers, that is a healthy return for a player better known for classical solidity.

Behind him, GM Denis Lazavik took second place. He was one of seven players tied on nine points and had the best tiebreak of the group. Half a point off the top, with six others in the same bracket, is a narrow margin in a 9.5-point event.

So and Lazavik were also among the 17 players who started 4/4. The list did not include some usual suspects. Nakamura had reached a Chess.com record blitz rating of 3470 just before the event began, and still missed out on the early perfect-score group.

Last week’s winner, GM Alireza Firouzja, was not on it either. He did, however, supply the wildest moment of the day. His third-round win over GM Luca Moroni led broadcast host GM Robert Hess to the line of the week.

Hess spotted the position after 21 moves and said: “I’ve never been more confused ever looking at a chess game… Can I resign for both players?” Moroni went for broke in the wild position, but there was no mate to be found. Firouzja picked up a second queen and the win.

So’s timing is notable. He is one of the key figures of the upcoming Grandmasters documentary, and the win lands as that project approaches. So’s own line, posted after the win, was that the Olympiad had proved a useful warm-up for the real event.

For Titled Tuesday regulars, the takeaway is practical. A 7/7 start banks so many points that even three final-round draws at the top cannot undo it. The chasing group of seven on nine had to hope for a slip, and none came.