Patience is the companion of wisdom, declared St Augustine. That wisdom was manifest in Wesley So’s victory at the Sinquefield Cup last month, one of the strongest classical events in the calendar, with a $350,000 prize fund. So grabbed his first win as late as round seven, against world champion Gukesh; going into the last round he trailed the leaders by half a point. The outstanding feature of his final-round win was the farsighted decision to evacuate his king before launching the final assault. That victory put him into a playoff with Caruana and Praggnanandhaa. So said that he joked about sharing the title, with a nod to the 2024 World Blitz Championship where Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi did the same. When the arbiter refused, he went and won it anyway.
In the diagram, a kingside breakthrough with 32 f5 would be premature, in view of 32…gxf5 33 gxf5 exf5 34 Rxf5? Qg6+. So envisions that his king would be safer on b3.
Wesley So-Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Round 9, Sinquefield Cup, 2025
32 Kf2 Qa7 The peak danger of a lateral king manoeuvre occurs when it interferes with the other pieces. Since this occurs right away, Abdusattorov should have struck with 32…d3! Then 33 Nxd3 Qxa4 yields reasonable counterplay, or after 33 Qxd3 Bh4+ 34 Kg2 Rd8 35 Qe3 Rd4 Black has fair chances despite the two pawn deficit. 33 Ke2 Qd7 34 Kd1 Qe8 35 Kc2 Re7 36 Kb3 Rff7 37 h4 The immediate 37 f5 exf5 38 gxf5 Rxe5 demonstrates why Abdusattorov has contorted his queen and rook, and is why So launches his h-pawn instead. Rf8 38 Rh1 Rg8 39 Rfh3 Rf8 40 h5 g5 41 Rf1 Rxf4 42 Rxf4 gxf4 43 Rf3 Rf7 44 Rxf4 Kg8 45 Rxf7 Qxf7 46 Qc6 Kg7 47 Nd3 Be7 47…Qf1 48 Qd7+ Kh6 49 Qxe6+ Kg5 50 Qf5+ forces the queens off, with an easy endgame win once the c5-pawn falls. 48 Qg2 Qf8 49 Qb7 Kg8 50 Qc6 Qh6 51 Qe8+ Bf8 52 g5 Black resigns as 52…Qxg5 53 Qxe6+ Kg7 54 Qf6+ wins comfortably.
So’s plan reminded me of this classic squeeze from Tigran Petrosian, who would later become the ninth world champion. Petrosian does not rush to extract any benefit from his domination of the c-file, instead preparing a kingside attack by migrating his own monarch.
Tigran Petrosian-Wolfgang Unzicker
Hamburg, 1960
29 Kf1 Kf8 30 h4 h5 31 R1c2 Kg7 32 Ke1 Kg8 33 Kd1 Kh7 34 Kc1 Kg8 35 Kb1 Kh7 36 Qe2 Qb7 37 Rc1 Kg7 38 Qb5 Qa8 39 f4 Kh7 40 Qe2 Qb7 41 g4 hxg4 42 Qxg4 Qe7 43 h5 Qf6 44 Ka2 Kg7 45 hxg6 Qxg6 46 Qh4 Be7 47 Qf2 Kf8 48 Nd2 Rb7 49 Nb3 Ra7 50 Qh2 Bf6 51 Rc8 Rd7 52 Nc5 b3+ 53 Kxb3 Rd6 54 f5 Rb6+ 55 Ka2 Black resigns
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