Grandmaster Wesley So seeks to add another feather to his cap as he plunges back into action in the online Goldmoney Asian Rapid of the Metyltwater Champions Chess Tour starting this weekend.
So, the reigning world Fischer-Random champion, aims to ride on the crest of his recent title victory at the 2021 Paris Rapid and Blitz of the Grand Chess Tour tournament held over the board in France.
But the two-time United States champion will have his hands full with a talent-laded lineup spearheaded by world classical titlist Magnus Carlsen, who beat him in the finals of the FTX Crypto Cup early this month.
Carlsen boasts of two straight crowns in the Champions Chess Tour after also ruling the New in Chess Classic a month ago.
Those pair of triumphs catapulted the Norwegian superstar to the top of the overall tour lead ahead of So.
Carlsen and So will be battling for not just tour ranking points but also the top purse worth US$30,000.
So also targets for his third title in the Tour following victories in the Skilling Open in November and the Euro Opera Rapid in February.
Also seeing action in the nine-day event are World Nol. 3 Ding Liren of China, the Netherlands’ Anish Giri, Armenia’s Levon Aronian, FIDE’s Alireza Firouzja, India’s Vidit Gujrahi, Arjun Erigaisi, Adhiban Baskaran and Gukesh D, Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Russia’s Peter Svidler, Vladimir Artemiev and Daniil Dubov, United Arab Emirates’s Saleh Salem and former world women’s champion Hou Yifan of China.