MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-American Grandmaster Wesley So delivered a stellar performance at the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz 2025, finishing second in one of the year’s strongest chess tournaments and scoring a commanding win against reigning World Classical Champion Gukesh Dommaraju (19) of India.
The elite tournament, which was aired live on its official YouTube Channel, featured a formidable field, including eight of the world’s top 10 Grandmasters: defending champion Fabiano Caruana (USA), World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway), current World Classical Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, India’s top-ranked Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Uzbekistan’s Olympiad hero Nodirbek Abdusattorov, France No. 1 Alireza Firouzja, Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri, Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and Croatia’s Ivan Šarić.
So’s victory over Gukesh—described as the “Best Game of the Tournament”—was a highlight of the event. In a powerful attacking display, So mobilized nearly all his pieces to trap Gukesh’s king on the kingside, forcing a resignation just ahead of mate. Computers assessed he played with a remarkable 99 percent accuracy in that game.
Long regarded as a master of “risk-free” precision and one of the hardest players to beat, So proved he could be aggressive when the opportunity demands.
Carlsen claimed the championship and the top prize of $40,000, adding to his previous SuperUnited titles from 2019, 2022, and 2023. So’s second-place finish qualifies him for the Tour Finals in São Paulo later this year.
Gukesh finished third, defying critics—Carlsen among them—who had questioned his strength in fast time formats. Carlsen had previously commented, “It remains to be proven that he is one of the best players in such a format. Gukesh hasn’t done anything to indicate he will do well in this tournament. I hope for his sake he can play better, but I’ll approach it as if I’m playing one of the weaker players.”
Gukesh answered his critics with a remarkable comeback after losing his first game to Duda in the Rapid section. He then rattled off consecutive wins against Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov, Caruana, Carlsen, and So—beating Carlsen again in the sixth round. Though he topped the Rapid standings, Gukesh faltered in the Blitz portion, ultimately securing a respectable third-place finish.
Carlsen and So, meanwhile, had mixed results in the Rapid rounds but both went on a killing spree in the Blitz section to surge ahead in the scoreboard.
The tournament, held from June 30 to July 7, featured Rapid games from July 2–4, with each player given 30 minutes per game, and Blitz games from July 5–6, where players had only 5 minutes on the clock. The format produced many dramatic games, marked by stunning comebacks and last-minute turnarounds—what many dubbed “great escapes.”
