Grandmaster Wesley So returned to over-the-board competition by seeing action in the 2021 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament starting Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) in Missouri.
The tournament stakes a total prize fund of $150,000 (around P7.5 million) where 10 elite grandmasters will battle over nine rounds of rapid chess and 18 rounds of blitz.
The event is also the fourth and final rapid and blitz tournament in the 2021 Grand Chess Tour schedule.
So will compete for the title against Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hungary’s Richard Rapport, Vietnam’s Quang Liem Le, Russia’s Peter Svidler and fellow US teammates Fabiano Caruana, Leiner Dominguez, Jeffery Xiong, Hikaru Nakamura and Sam Shankland.
The 27-year-old Cavite-born So, who now http://online-pharmacy.org/ represents the United States, is coming off a title victory in the online tournament Chessable Masters of the Champions Chess Tour against Quang.
Three rounds of rapid matches will be held on the first three days, followed by a two-day blitz event.