Grandmaster Wesley So scored 2.5 points in the last three rounds including two victories over Armenian Levon Aronian and Indian Pentala Harikrishna to seize the solo lead after the rapid side of the 2020 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament Thursday.
The 26-year-old So overhauled a one-point deficit to reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen entering Day 3 and snatched the lead with 13 points, one point ahead of the latter.
So is hoping to cling on to the lead when the 18-game blitz side of this US250,000 (12.5 million) tournament unfolds Friday and Saturday.
So finished undefeated in the rapid with four wins and five draws.
His other victories came at the expense of fellow United States bets Jeffrey Xiong and Leinier Dominguez Perez.
He drew with Carlsen, the US’s Hikaru Nakamura, Iran’s Alireza Firouzja, and Russia’s Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomiachtchi.
A win in the rapid accounts for two points and a draw one point while a triumph in the blitz is worth a point and a draw half a point.
So is eyeing to improve on a fifth-place finish in the Fischer-Rapid event of this same tilt where he blew his chance of finishing first following a stinging defeat to the wily Firouzja.
Carlsen, the world champion in standard, rapid and blitz, topped that one.