So was born in the city of Bacoor, province Cavite in the Phillipines in 1993
to William and Eleanor So, both accountants.
Wesley attended theJesus Good Shepherd School and went on to St. Francis of Assisi College in Bacoor.
He was aged six when his father taught him to play chess and nine when he began competing in junior tournaments.
2. Before he was 10, he showed great promise as the Philippines’ best prospect for a world championship since Eugene Torre.
He has lived up to that promise, chalking up triumph after triumph in tournaments here and abroad.
At 12, he was a chess Olympian for the Philippines.
At 14, he became the youngest player to achieve the title grandmaster, a milestone not even the prolific Torre achieved in his teens.
3. In 2014. caught in a tug-of-war between the politicians who control chess in the country
and handlers who promise him a brighter future in the United States,
the prodigy has refused to play under the Philippine flag in the World Chess Olympiad
unless Philippine chess authorities allow him to play under the Stars and Stripes after that.
When the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, which has nurtured his prodigious talent since he was barely 10
, declined the gambit, he made his move—a courageous one for one so young.
He will no longer play for his country and will wait it out until the rules allow him to play under the US flag.
Under the rules of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), a player needs the old federation’s consent or a payment of 50,000 euros before he can transfer.
Having neither, Wesley had to wait two years to make the switch. This is to discourage piracy of talents, for which America is notorious.
4. In 2015. US championship Wesley So was forfeited in round 9
because he was taking notes about his game on his score sheet.
In the first two rounds he was taking notes on his score sheet and he was warned by the arbiter.
In round 9 against GM Varuzhan Akobian he was taking notes on a piece of paper under the scoresheet.
The notes were "SIT DOWN FOR THE ENTIRE GAME", watch your time, think about every move.
He was forfeited as this was a clear violation of tournament rules.
The arbiter had other options, but he decieded to forfeit Wesley. This caused an avalanche of comments on social networks.
Wesley appealed to the committee not to lose rating points saying he did not know of that rule.
BUT RULES ARE RULES, and Wesley lost both game and rating points. Nakamura won the tournament.
5. A day after achieving victory in the Grand Chess Tour, Wesley So also won the London Chess Classic.
He was the first to finish his game, drawing with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
He then saw his rival Fabiano Caruana reach the same result against Anish Giri, who drew all his games in London.
Wesley So couldn't have wished for a better first appearance in London.
His phenomenal performance brought him both tournament victory ($75,000) and, more importantly, a win in the Grand Chess Tour ($100,000).
This is definitely my best achievement ever," Wesley said.
Anand said: The word that comes to mind, is, efortless. "It really looks effortless.
He doesn't even seem to be trying very hard. He's been undefeated for so long... I'm very impressed by how easy he makes it seem."
Couple of days ago, he also won the 2017. Tata Steel Tournament, 1 whole point ahead of Magnus Carlsen,
6. Filipino chess grandmaster Wesley So kicked off the 2016 Grand Chess Tour in as grand a fashion imaginable,
defeating the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen on time.
This is the first time So has defeated Carlsen in this type of time control.
Carlsen outplayed So in the 2015 Sinquefield Cup in the slower classical chess format,
which affords players 90 mins each to make 40 moves with 30 seconds increment, then 60 minutes each to finish the game.
Eugene Torre is the only other Filipino to defeat a world champion, accomplishing the feat in July 1976,
when he forced then titleholder Anatoly Karpov to resign in a tournament at the Philamlife Auditorium.
It is rare for the world champion to lose but rarer still to see him losing on time in a winning position.
Carlsen, who had two queens against So’s Queen and a Knight, had no forced mate
but he had to play one of his queens near his King to repulse a desperate move by So to force a draw by perpetual check.
"He thought he had more time than he really had. “He was winning in the position but I won.
So, that may be one of his few weaknesses, losing on time,” he added.
7. Of the ten players who made it to chessbase.com shortlist because of their outstanding performances in 2016.
Wesley So was voted "Player of the Year 2016".
Wesley started 2016 as number ten in the world, at the end of the year he was number four -
and is one of the few players with a 2800+ rating.
So had an outstanding performance at the Chess Olympiad 2016 in Baku where he won gold with the American team,
he won the Sinquefield and the London Chess Classic and that helped him to win the Grand Chess Tour.
Also, Wesley won the 2017. US chess championship!
8. Wesley So is very religious. This is what he wrote on his facebook profile on January 4th 2017:
9. Here is what some of the top rated players say about Wesley:
Levon Aronian said that he preferred “more aggressive players” and “more blood on the board.”
Caruana: He doesn’t make any mistakes at all, and even the mistakes he makes aren’t so significant...
I don’t see anything terrifying in his play as well. What he’s doing, avoiding mistakes, is not something that’s impossible to overcome.
Giri: I wonder where he stole that idea [of playing solidly and picking up points] from.
He’s playing very risk-free and very, very good.
I only wonder how he will create chances if the opponents also play the same way as him.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Wesley is playing risk-free chess.
His style is more of precision chess, playing what is asked for by the position.
And if that is what it takes to succeed and crash the world elite, then I’m all for it.
One thing though, Wesley has always impressed me for his continuous improvement --
he advances rapidly for a while, plateaus for a bit,
and then when you think he has become stagnant there comes another quantum leap to the next level.
I do not think that we have seen the best of Wesley So yet -- it is still to come!
10. Wesley So won one of the most prestigious chess events, the Tata Steel Chess Tournament held in Netherlands.
So faced a difficult challenge, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin participating but,
in the end, he won the tournament with a convincing full point lead.
Last year ended with the World Championship match in November.
Magnus Carlsen defended his champion title against his rival, Sergey Karjakin.
The open question now is who will be the next challenger to Carlsen.
Most people thought that the next challenger would be Fabiano Caruana, Vladimir Kramnik or Hikaru Nakamura.
Then So started his fantastic streak. So’s incredible run started after his tournament in Bilbao, Spain last July.
The fastest improving player lost his last game in Bilbao but, surprisingly, So has not lost a single game since.
He tied for third in Bilbao, then he won the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic and the Grand Chess Tour 2016.
During the London Chess Classic, So won convincingly. He didn't lose a single game in the entire London Classic 
super-tournament.
His undefeated streak matched the reigning World Champion’s unbeaten streak of almost 60 undefeated games.
Not only did So have a great year with individual tournaments,
but he was also a part of the American team that took gold at the Olympics in Baku for the first time since 1976.
The American powerhouse team consisted of Caruana, Nakamura, So, Ray Robson and Sam Shankland.
After his fantastic year-opener, everyone is expecting Wesley So, the young American talent, to be the next one to be knocking on King Carlsen’s door.
