Grandmaster Wesley So overcame a second-round defeat to teenage sensation Alireza Firouzja to stay in quarterfinal contention in the Skilling Open, which serves as a first leg of the 2020-2021 Champions Chess Tour Sunday.
The 27-year-old So is currently in a four-way logjam at fourth spot with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, Armenian Levon Aronian and United States teammate Hikaru Nakamura with three points apiece.
Dutch Anish Giri leads the way with four points while reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and Spaniard David Anton Guijarro were at joint second with 3.5 points each.
After drawing with Spain’s Guijarro in the opening round, So ran into Firouzja, who was born in Iran but is now representing FIDE, in the next round and lost their showdown.
But the two-time US champion bounced back big by trouncing Aronian and Polish Jan Krzystztof Duda, before halving the point with world No. 3 Ding Liren of China in the fifth.
So is hoping to make it to the knockout quarters after the 15-round eliminations of this event staking Tour points plus a total prize fund of US$100,000 (P5 million) including US$30,000 (P1.5 million) to the champion.
The sixth to 10th rounds were being played Monday while the last five are set Tuesday.
More tournament updates here: https://championschesstour.com/