2017 León Masters – It’s not often you beat the world no. 3 in 17 moves

El Torneo Magistral Ciudad de León, one of the great classics of the international circuit, celebrates this year a very special anniversary, its thirtieth edition, with its traditional format with four players and a cup system with semifinals and final that has been and is imitated in many world-class chess events. This system, which makes the competition much more interesting, avoids the famous and dreaded draws without a fight, one of the hurdles of high level chess.

Wesley So is on course to play a 4-game rapid match against Vishy Anand on Sunday in the final of the 2017 León Masters, but it wasn’t easy! In the first game of his semi-final against Jan-Krzysztof Duda he inexplicably blundered his queen on move 17 and had no choice but to resign. He got nothing in the next game but then levelled the score in an endgame grind in Game 3. The final game was going the young Polish player’s way, but when his attack stalled Wesley took over and ensured no tiebreaks were required.

Wesley So is on course to play a 4-game rapid match against Vishy Anand on Sunday in the final of the 2017 León Masters, but it wasn’t easy! In the first game of his semi-final against Jan-Krzysztof Duda he inexplicably blundered his queen on move 17 and had no choice but to resign. It’s not often you beat the world no. 3 in 17 moves. He got nothing in the next game but then levelled the score in an endgame grind in Game 3. The final game was going the young Polish player’s way, but when his attack stalled Wesley took over and ensured no tiebreaks were required.

This year there’s again a fascinating line-up. Vishy Anand has won the tournament 9 times, including last year, while Wesley So needs no introduction as the world no. 3. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, meanwhile, is a 19-year-old Polish player who has just broken into the 2700 club, with only Wei Yi, who won León in 2014 and 2015, both younger and higher rated. Duda also won the 2014 European Rapid Championship and finished runner-up in the Blitz Championship in the same year, so is no pushover at fast time controls. The final player is Jaime Santos, who as a 2542-rated International Master looks somewhat out of place until you realise the 21-year-old Spanish player is from León and is being given a chance to compete against the best.

See also:

• Official website
• All the games with computer analysis here on chess24

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