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Wesley So

In six months, from August 2016 to January 2017, Wesley So won the Sinquefield Cup, the Chess Olympiad with the U.S. team, the London Chess Classic, the overall Grand Chess Tour, and the Tata Steel tournament. In 2019 he became the first official Chess960 world champion, beating Magnus Carlsen 13½–2½ in the final. He was born in the Philippines in 1993 and plays for the United States.

Wesley So
Photo: Frans Peeters, 2023. CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped and toned.
  • BornOctober 9, 1993, Bacoor, Philippines
  • CountryUnited States
  • TitleGrandmaster
  • Highest rating2822 (February 2017)
    FIDE's official lists (from July 1971)
  • In the rankingsNo. 6 in the world, 2771
    FIDE's list, November 2026

Two great years

In 2016 So won both the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic without losing a game. He also won the overall Grand Chess Tour that year, and again in 2021. At the Chess Olympiad in Baku he won gold with the U.S. team, its first in 40 years, and gold on third board, with 8½ points out of 10.

In January 2017 he won the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee with 9 points out of 13, a point ahead of Carlsen and without a loss. When Shakhriyar Mamedyarov finally beat him in April 2017, So had gone 67 classical games in a row without a loss.

He reached his highest rating, 2822, on FIDE's February 2017 list. That March he was second in the world.

Main results

Wesley So's own results. At the Chess Olympiad, medals go both to the teams and to the best player on each board.
YearEventResult
2016Sinquefield Cup
St. Louis		Winner
5½ of 9 points
2016London Chess Classic
London		Winner
6 of 9 points
2016Chess Olympiad
Baku		Team gold, gold on board 3
8½ of 10 points
2016, 2021Grand Chess Tour, overallWinner
2017Tata Steel Masters
Wijk aan Zee		Winner
9 of 13 points
2017, 2020, 2021, 2026U.S. Championship
United States		Winner
2018Candidates tournament
Berlin		7th place
6 of 14 points
2019Chess960 World Championship
Bærum, Norway		Winner
2025, 2026Sinquefield Cup
St. Louis		Winner

From the Philippines to the United States

So played first for the Philippines and now plays for the United States. He became a grandmaster at 14. In October 2008 he reached 2600 on FIDE's list, younger than anyone before him. That broke Carlsen's record, and Wei Yi later took it. He passed 2700 in 2013 and reached 2800 in January 2017.

Chess960 and the U.S. Championship

In Chess960 the starting position of the pieces is drawn by lot before the game, so memorized opening lines don't help. In 2019 FIDE held its first official world championship in it, and So met Magnus Carlsen in the final in Norway. He won 13½–2½.

So has won the U.S. Championship in 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2026. In 2026 he finished level with Fabiano Caruana and won the tiebreak. That same year he won the Sinquefield Cup for the third time, and the second year running, after a final deciding game against R Praggnanandhaa.

Sources

  • FIDE: So's rating history (ratings.fide.com, read 2026-11-09)
  • Chess.com: player page on Wesley So and the report on his unbeaten run in 2017
  • Wikipedia: Wesley So
  • PGN Mentor: the games of the 2016 Sinquefield Cup, London 2016, Wijk aan Zee 2017, and the 2018 Candidates
  • FIDE: the reports on the 2019 Chess960 World Championship, the 2026 Sinquefield Cup, and the 2026 U.S. Championship
  • OlimpBase: the U.S. team and the medals at Baku 2016, and every Olympiad's winners

The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given.

Updated November 9, 2026