Wesley So Wins the Millionaire Open
The top seed, Wesley So, played like the top seed, and is now $100,000 richer as the winner of the Millionaire Open. (At least until the IRS gets a hold of him.) In the semi-final match against Zhou Jinchao the 25-minute games were drawn, but then So won easily with Black to put himself in the driver's seat for the second game. Though he made his life more difficult than he needed to with the mistaken 24.Qc4, Zhou was unable to take advantage and lost this game as well.
The other semi-final was more dramatic. Yu Yangyi was a certain favorite against Ray Robson, and was crushing him in the first 25-minute game with White. Robson's 24...f5 was a blunder that was met by 25.Bxf5, after which Yu was rolling him. Yu had many ways to win, with the most elegant being 32.Rxf5+! Qxf5 33.Qxg8+! Kxf8 34.Nxe7+ and 35.Nxf5, after which White would be a piece and a pawn up. A couple of moves later White had only one clean win left - 34.Rxe7+ - but after 34.Qh5+ he was no longer better. Several moves later Robson's king had scuttled off to safety, and with the extra piece he won easily. In the rematch Robson was always doing fine, and was able to draw without any trouble, eliminating his higher-rated opponent.
The finale was a match between friends, university teammates and former roommates. Of course there wasn't any friendship over the board, and So took care of business. Robson had White in the first game, an unusual Classical French, and didn't get any advantage from the opening. So had a very comfortable position until the slightly suspicious 26...Bxe4 27.Rxe4 Rhf8, but Robson didn't manage to keep his small edge for long and the game was soon drawn.
The second game was a bit of a blowout. Robson was unfamiliar with the line So chose against the Fianchetto Gruenfeld with ...c6 and ...d5, and was soon burning lots of time without managing to equalize. Worse, he simply blundered a pawn on move 12, after which he was simply lost. Of course, Robson had been "dead" lost in round 7 of the main tournament and in the first game of the semi-final, too, but So kept his foot on the accelerator and finished the job with power. Meanwhile, Robson finished with $50,000 for his troubles, so his disappointment is unlikely to last for long.