How many moves ahead?

One common question that chess players get is "How many moves can you see ahead?" I have listed some answers previously, but I do like the more outrageous claims (eg 20 moves), but only if they are delivered with a wink.
Of course some long combinations start as more of a hunch, before crystallising into a concrete line. It helps if a player has two results up there sleeve, with an escape pod if anything goes dramatically wrong.
Wesley So played a brilliancy in yesterdays round of the US Championship, against Jeffrey Xiong. While So's position looked slightly better, it didn't really kick off until the knight sac on f2. Even then it wasn't clear what the end point was, although So had plenty of threats. At first it seemed that the mating attack was the major goal, but it turned out that the c pawn was the real danger, and after c3, Xiong had no real defence. An impressive game by So, even more so if he was able to calculate the final position 10 moves out.


Xiong,Jeffery (2674) - So,Wesley (2822) [E06]
ch-USA 2017 Saint Louis USA (9.1), 07.04.2017