Daniil Dubov shared his opinion on Wesley So during their game at the Titled Tuesday. Dubov calls Wesley’s playstyle solid and dull, and says that So is very hard to beat. Daniil notes that he understood Wesley’s style as he got older.

Daniil Dubov

Daniil Dubov

Russian GM

“So is a difficult opponent for me. To be fair, he is difficult for everyone. I have gone through this evolution, that So plays so tight, solid, and a bit dull, that at the same time he is almost impossible to beat.

And it is funny that for quite a long time I was, I would not say giggling, but I thought: why even live like that? And it seemed to me, this is not chess, it is impossible to get pleasure from this. Why does he do this?

And then I got older and came to the conclusion myself that it is actually cool to be So. Nobody wants to play against you, nobody can do anything to you. You draw with everyone, and when someone tries to beat you, you beat them. Wonderful, in my opinion.”

Wesley So is currently World’s No. 6 and America’s No. 3. He is a three-time U.S. champion and a two-time Grand Chess Tour winner. Wesley reached a peak FIDE rating of 2822 in 2017 and became the fifth-highest-rated player in history.

Credit: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE