Grandmaster Wesley So scored three points in the last five rounds of the preliminaries to secure a place in the knockout quarterfinals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Magnus Invitational Tuesday, March 16.
So overpowered Sweden’s Nils Grandelius, while drawing with Iran-born Alireza Firouzja, world champion Magnus Carlsen, Spain’s David Anton Guijarro, and Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to end up the third seed with 9.5 points.
Carlsen, the world classical champion, took the top seeding with 10.5 points out of the possible 15 after bumping off Dutch Anish Giri from the top.
Giri, who led after the first 10 rounds, fell to second with 10 points.
The Cavite-born So, who is also the world Fischer Random titlist and two-time United States champion, will clash with Firouzja in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 17.
Other quarters pairings pit Carlsen against No. 8 Levon Aronian of Armenia, Giri versus No. 7 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, and No. 4 Hikaru Nakamura of the US against No. 5 Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia.
So eyes to keep his stranglehold on the tour lead, which he grabbed after he ruled the Skilling Open in December last year and the Opera Euro Rapid a month back.
And it looked like he would keep it after Azeri Teimour Radjabov, currently at close second, wound up only 11th with seven points to be eliminated in this tournament.