Wesley So enters $1 million Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour

EXCLUSIVE. Wesley So gets tapped to compete in the tournament series dangling a record prize. File photo from FIDE

MANILA, Philippines – A million dollars for an online chess series?

The record amount will be dangled in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour which was launched by the world champion to compensate for canceled over-the-board tournaments brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emboldened by the widely followed $250,000 Magnus Carlsen Invitational held April 18 to May 2 which he won over American Hikaru Nakamura, the Norwegian legend decided to add 3 more stages confined to Super Grandmasters leading to the $300,000 Grand Final on August 9.

The final match between Carlsen and Nakamura attracted a record 114,000 views online.

Of course, Carlsen will be a fixture in the tour along with Nakamura, world No. 3 Ding Liren of China, and 16-year-old Iranian sensation Alireza Firouzja.

For the next stop, the Lindores Abbey Rapid Chess Classic from May 19 to June 3, Carlsen inserted into the fold Philippine-born Wesley So, who dealt him a resounding beating for the World Fischer Random Chess Championship title last year.

Apart from So, also vying for the $150,000 leg purse are Russian Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin and Daniil Dubov, Armenian Levon Aronian, Chinese Wei Yi, Polish Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Chinese Yu Yangyi.

Ding, Wei and Yu powered China, which swept the Open and Women’s division of the 2018 Batumi (Georgia) Chess Olympiad, to the first Online Nations Cup crown recently.

The other legs, which will also stake $150,000, will be the Online Chess Masters on June 20-July 5 and the Legends of Chess on July 21 to August 5.

The Tour will be shown via TV streaming and at chess24.com and will be available in 9 languages. – Rappler.com