
Grandmaster Wesley So bounced back from a shaky start as he scored four points in his next five games to storm back into contention in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Magnus Carlsen Invitational Monday, March 15.
So barged from outside the share of ninth in Day 1 to joint No. 3 after trouncing Armenia-born Levon Aronian, Russian Daniil Dubov and the Netherlands’ Jorden Van Foreest, while splitting the point with fellow United States bet Hikaru Nakamura and France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
The Cavite-born So has 6.5 points after 10 rounds to tie with Nakamura.
So’s recent effort was in stark contrast to his opening day performance when he dropped two games and wound up with just 2.5 points.
Dutch Anish Giri continued to hold his ground to stay at the helm with eight points while world champion Magnus Carlsen, for whom the fourth leg of the tour is named after, was at No. 2 with 7.5 points.
So, the world Fischer Random champion king and two-time US titlist, will need to play solidly against his last five foes—Carlsen, Iran-born FIDE bet Aliureza Firouzja, Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Sweden’s Nils Grandelius and Spain’s David Anton Guijarro on Tuesday.
So is looking at keeping his firm grasp of the tour lead and add another title after he reigned supreme in the Skilling Open in December last year and the Euro Opera Rapid last month.
Both Giri and Carlsen have automatically sealed slots to the playoff round regardless of the results of Day Three of the preliminaries of this tournament staking US $220,000.