Grandmaster Wesley So kept his grip on the second spot while Magnus Carlsen bounced back to remain at the helm after five rounds in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Grand Finals Wednesday.
So prevailed over Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the tiebreak, 1.5-0.5, after a 2-2 draw in the regulation to clinch two points and improve to 21.5 points, five points behind Carlsen.
So and Giri split the point in the first tiebreak match before the 27-year-old Cavite-born American dominated his Dutch foe for the matchup win.
Carlsen, for his part, recovered from a Round 4 regulation loss to Russian Vladislav Artemiev by whipping American Hikaru Nakamura, 2.5-0.5, to gain three points and hike his tally to 26.5 points.
Nakamura’s defeat kept him at fifth with 12 points.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Teimur Radjabov pulled off a 2.5-1.5 triumph over Levon Aronian to forge a tie with his Armenian rival at third to fourth places with 15 points.
After drawing their first game, Radjabov dominated Aronian to gain the upperhand then settled for draws in the next two games.
In other matches, Artemiev posted a second straight win at the expense of Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 2.5-1.5, to tie with France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave at sixth to seventh places with similar 11.5 points.
Vachier-Lagrave, for his, downed Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda, 2.5-1.5.
Giri remained at eighth with 10.5, while Mamedyarov and Duda at ninth and 10th places with similar 5 points.
The event takes a break Thursday before resuming on Oct. 1 with So clashing with Radjabov in Round 6.