Chessable authors don't get much classier than Wesley So.
The Philippine-American Grandmaster knows all stages of the chess journey: from former prodigy to being stuck on a plateau to the very world elite. From tactical beast battling it out in the streets of his natal Bacoor to having the most crystal-clear positional style.
Wesley began playing at the age of nine and broke the 2600 mark a few days before his 15th birthday, then the youngest player to achieve that feat.
The meteoric rise gave place to steadier progress, but by the age of 20, Wesley was already a 2700+. At the time he didn't consider himself a professional chess player however, so he attended Webster University as part of the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE).
But his magnificent showing in the 2014-2015 season convinced him to pursue chess as a full-time career. During that time, he officialized his moving to the US federation, and coincidentally it's when he broke into the top10 for the first time.
2016 was the year of Wesley's consecration. He won two gold medals in the Baku Chess Olympiad, one with the USA team and another as the tournaments' best third board. He also won the Sinquefield Cup, the London Classic, the Grand Chess Tour, and by the start of the new year, his rating was already over 2800.
He kept the pace with wins in the Tata Steel Masters (ahead of World Champion Magnus Carlsen), his first US Championship title, and reaching the number 2 spot in the world rankings with a peak of 2822. He amassed a streak of 67 games unbeaten during that period, and he was widely considered the favorite to challenge for the World title.
Alas, a poor showing at the 2018 Candidates seemed to halt Wesley's campaign for a while, but he's found a new breeze in the online chess circuit born out of the covid pandemic. Going into the Finals of the Champions Chess Tour, he places at second overall with three tournament wins, two of them against Tour leader Magnus Carlsen.
This success has put him once more in the spotlight as one of the most dangerous opponent for Carlsen. A glimpse of his ease in facing the Norwegian was seen during the 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship final (Chess960), where he achieved a crushing 13.5-2.5 victory.
Incidentally, a course on that chess variant was Wesley's debut as a Chessable author. He followed by publishing a two-volume Lifetime Repertoires on 1.e4 in early 2021, to which he attributes much of his success in the CCT. His behemoth on the 'best by test' has garnered rave reviews from almost 500 users and largely influenced opening fashion, with the Italian and the Rossolimo enjoying a healthy reputation thanks to Wesley's analysis.
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