Grandmaster Wesley So bounced back from a first-round loss to Magnus Carlsen to stay in the magic eight of the online $100,000 Aimchess US Rapid of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Saturday.
The Cavite-born, 27-year-old So yielded to Carlsen in a Gruenfeld duel in the opening round before bouncing back by scoring three points in his next four games that include victories over Polish Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Santosh Gujrathi Vidit.
It allowed So, the world Fischer-Random king and two-time US champion, to barge into a logjam for fourth spot alongside Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, France’s Alireza Firouzja and United States’ Leinier Dominguez Perez with three points apiece.
Armenia’s Levon Aronian led with four points followed by Carlsen and Russia’s Vladislav Artemiev at second with 3.5 points.
So was fresh from his conquest of the Grand Chess Tour where he pocketed a bonus purse worth $100,000 (P5 million).
He also came from reigning supreme in the Chessable Masters early this month that pushed him closer to Carlsen in the race for the overall tour lead.
At present, So 257 Tour points compared to Carlsen’s 291.
After this, there is one more tournament scheduled next month before this year’s Tour concludes.