Wesley So – Levon Aronian, Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game), Closed C84
2018 World Chess Candidates Tournament, Round 6
Wesley So finally got his first win at the candidates tournament! After having a horrible start to the tournament (1.5/5), he played a masterful attacking game against Levon Aronian. It was a closed Ruy Lopez, in which Aronian tried to go for the drawing Marshall Attack, but Wesley declined to enter the variation and played an imprecise but aggressive alternative which brought a unique attacking position for white.
He pushed for an advantage, finally showing a will to win at all costs and slowly but surely cramped black’s position until he started making mistake after mistake which eventually led to loss of material.
Even though Ruy Lopez is not the most exciting of openings, this game was highly volatile and extremely instructional for attacking players who wish to learn how to exploit their opponent’s weaknesses and convert them into a winning advantage.
With this win Wesley So has finally broken his streak of weak chess and bad results and he now stands a great chance to catch up to the leaders in round 7 on Sunday. Let’s hope he can succeed!
2018 Candidates, Standings after round 6:
1. Fabiano Caruana 4/6
2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 4/6
3. Alexander Grischuk 3/6
4. Ding Liren 3/6
5. Vladimir Kramnik 3/6
6. Wesley So 2.5/6
7. Levon Aronian 2.5/6
8. Sergey Karjakin 2/6
Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more chess analysis and games from the candidates tournament!