Wesley So Wins 6-Figure Check in Millionaire Chess
You don't have to be Fabiano Caruana to win $100,000 in a tournament. Being in the world top ten does help, though.
A few weeks after Caruana, the world number two, earned six-figures for his demolition of the Sinquefield Cup, GM Wesley So earned a check for the same amount by winning the first Millionaire Chess Tournament, the most lucrative open tournament in the history of chess.
In doing so, he also crept into the world top ten for the first time.
The event fittingly took place in America's gambling capital, Las Vegas. Not that chess is gambling, but most come to Sin City knowing that they'll leave with less money than they came with, save a few fortunate visitors.
The $1,000 USD entry fee was paid by more than 550 players (even GMs had to ante up) from 44 countries. Organizers GM Maurice Ashley and his partner Amy Lee have been quoted as saying that they knew the first year would be a financial loss but they are confident of growth in future events.
"A million dollars and Vegas go together, and chess needs to get a few facelifts," Ashley told the BBC (don't miss their video report!). "This is the United States -- we do things big, we do things grandiose. If you're going to get any kind of public attention in the U.S., you've got to bring the excitement. A million dollars in Vegas spells excitement."
The format guaranteed this excitement (quite unlike the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, which was unexpectedly over after only eight rounds). All sections competed for seven rounds, then the top four scores in the open would advance to a knockout "Millionaire Monday" (players in the open continued to compete for two additional rounds for norm purposes).
So, who is attempting to change his FIDE affiliation to the U.S., was joined in the finals by fellow American GM Ray Robson. Both scored 6/7 in the first four days of Millionaire Chess.
Robson's ticket to the finals looked very unsure on Sunday night, as he was much worse against Hungarian GM David Berczes. Robson is known for maximizing his chances in worse positions, and on this day he did just that.
So beat three American GMs to get to Millionaire Monday, including GM Alexander Ivanov, GM Alex Lenderman and GM Timur Gareev. In round seven, Gareev was short on space and went for a desparate attack, which So diffused by offering his queen.
That left two more placements in the finals. Four players tied on 5.5/7 for those spots: Chinese GMs Yu Yangyi and Jianchao Zhou, Belarussian GM Sergei Azarov (who came back after losing to a 2290 junior player in round one), and American GM Daniel Naroditsky.
Here were the rankings after regulation play concluded Sunday night.
2014 Millionaire Chess | Round 7 Standings (Top)
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | |
| 1 | 1 | GM | SO Wesley | PHI | 2755 | 6 |
| 11 | GM | ROBSON Ray | USA | 2628 | 6 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | YU Yangyi | CHN | 2697 | 5,5 |
| 8 | GM | AZAROV Sergei | BLR | 2639 | 5,5 | |
| 14 | GM | NARODITSKY Daniel | USA | 2601 | 5,5 | |
| 19 | GM | ZHOU Jianchao | CHN | 2580 | 5,5 | |
| 7 | 2 | GM | BU Xiangzhi | CHN | 2710 | 5 |
| 6 | GM | DREEV Aleksey | RUS | 2654 | 5 | |
| 9 | GM | NAJER Evgeniy | RUS | 2635 | 5 | |
| 10 | GM | SHANKLAND Samuel L | USA | 2633 | 5 | |
| 12 | GM | GAREEV Timur | USA | 2612 | 5 | |
| 13 | GM | ORTIZ SUAREZ Isan Reynaldo | CUB | 2611 | 5 | |
| 17 | GM | SADORRA Julio Catalino | PHI | 2592 | 5 | |
| 23 | GM | KAIDANOV Gregory S | USA | 2569 | 5 | |
| 35 | IM | KADRIC Denis | BIH | 2473 | 5 | |
| 37 | GM | BERCZES David | HUN | 2471 | 5 | |
| 44 | ABEL Dennes | GER | 2446 | 5 | ||
| 86 | IM | KARATOROSSIAN David | ARM | 2250 | 5 |
After a series of rapid playoff games, both Chinese GMs advanced to join So and Robson for Millionaire Monday.
Robson and So, who are teammates and actually room together at Webster University, rose up early on the deciding day. Robson took out double-Olympiad gold medalist Yu in the semifinals. In fast chess games, grabbing pawns and walking kings doesn't usually work out, but Robson made it stick.
Robson then drew game two to advance to the finals.
So matched with Jianchao and after a few draws, the Pinoy-American won games three and four to challenge his roommate in the finals.
A normal draw in round one was followed by a flipping of colors and one final game for the $100,000 first prize.
Robson still took home $50,000 for second.
The two Chinese players had to go seven games before Yu emerged as the third-place winner. His check was for $25,000 while Jianchao earned $14,000 for fourth.
Update: member IM Kacparov played in the tournament and likes to add:
“Generally, I see one important thing that was missed. Rounds 8 and 9 of the Open were not just "for norm purposes" - the remaining players were fighting for quite big prizes, starting with $8,000 for 5th place.
It is also not true that "they'll leave with less money than they came with, save a few fortunate visitors." - there were prizes up to place 50 in every category, so actually more than half of the players got a money prize.
You can find the results of the OPEN here, together with prizes:
http://millionairechess.com/standings/prizes-mc-open.pdf
I think that final results after 9 round should also be placed in the article, and big prizes until place 50 should be mentioned. If you read the article now, you have the feeling that there was a fight for 4 top places, and everyone else would go home with nothing... :-)”
So here we go! :-)
2014 Millionaire Chess | Final Standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | |
| 1 | 8 | GM | AZAROV Sergei | BLR | 2639 | 6,5 |
| 10 | GM | SHANKLAND Samuel L | USA | 2633 | 6,5 | |
| 12 | GM | GAREEV Timur | USA | 2612 | 6,5 | |
| 13 | GM | ORTIZ SUAREZ Isan Reynaldo | CUB | 2611 | 6,5 | |
| 14 | GM | NARODITSKY Daniel | USA | 2601 | 6,5 | |
| 37 | GM | BERCZES David | HUN | 2471 | 6,5 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | SO Wesley | PHI | 2755 | 6 |
| 2 | GM | BU Xiangzhi | CHN | 2710 | 6 | |
| 6 | GM | DREEV Aleksey | RUS | 2654 | 6 | |
| 7 | GM | AKOBIAN Varuzhan | USA | 2640 | 6 | |
| 9 | GM | NAJER Evgeniy | RUS | 2635 | 6 | |
| 11 | GM | ROBSON Ray | USA | 2628 | 6 | |
| 17 | GM | SADORRA Julio Catalino | PHI | 2592 | 6 | |
| 18 | GM | LENDERMAN Aleksandr | USA | 2589 | 6 | |
| 20 | GM | FELGAER Ruben | ARG | 2577 | 6 | |
| 21 | GM | RAMIREZ Alejandro | USA | 2574 | 6 | |
| 23 | GM | KAIDANOV Gregory S | USA | 2569 | 6 | |
| 24 | GM | KULAOTS Kaido | EST | 2564 | 6 | |
| 27 | GM | CHIRILA Ioan-Cristian | ROU | 2529 | 6 | |
| 36 | GM | FISHBEIN Alexander | USA | 2472 | 6 | |
| 21 | 3 | GM | LE Quang Liem | VIE | 2706 | 5,5 |
| 4 | GM | YU Yangyi | CHN | 2697 | 5,5 | |
| 15 | GM | KACHEISHVILI Giorgi | GEO | 2597 | 5,5 | |
| 16 | GM | GHAEM MAGHAMI Ehsan | IRI | 2594 | 5,5 | |
| 19 | GM | ZHOU Jianchao | CHN | 2580 | 5,5 | |
| 25 | GM | BRUNELLO Sabino | ITA | 2552 | 5,5 | |
| 26 | GM | MARGVELASHVILI Giorgi | GEO | 2540 | 5,5 | |
| 28 | GM | MATAMOROS FRANCO Carlos S. | ECU | 2517 | 5,5 | |
| 31 | GM | IVANOV Alexander | USA | 2508 | 5,5 | |
| 34 | IM | CHANDRA Akshat | USA | 2488 | 5,5 | |
| 35 | IM | KADRIC Denis | BIH | 2473 | 5,5 | |
| 38 | IM | XIONG Jeffery | USA | 2470 | 5,5 | |
| 41 | IM | DROZDOWSKI Kacper | POL | 2458 | 5,5 | |
| 45 | IM | KJARTANSSON Gudmundur | ISL | 2439 | 5,5 |
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
