Grandmaster Wesley So seeks to cling on to the overall lead in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour as he spearheads a cast that also include world champion Magnus Carlsen in the New in Chess Classic set April 24 to May 2.
The 27-year-old So is precariously holding the solo tour lead with 140 points and a total earning of $85,000 (around P4.1 million), but Carlsen remained hot on his tracks with 135 points and $65,000 (P3.14 million).
The world Fischer-Random champion and two-time United States titlist’s lead was trimmed after he lost to Carlsen in the battle for third place in last month’s Magnus Carlsen Invitational topped by Dutch Anish Giri, who climbed to No. 4 behind No. 3 Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaihjan.
But So could widen the gap again if he can come up with another magical performance similar to his title conquests in the Skilling Open in November last year, and the Opera Euro Rapid in February.
There would be some familiar faces like Carlsen, Radjabov and fellow American Hikaru Nakamura as well as new ones like Indian wunderkind R Praggnanandhaa, Englishman Gawain Jones and Norwegians Aryan Tari and Johan-Sebastian Christiansen that he would face in the fifth leg staking a total cash pot worth $100,000 (P4.8 million) with $30,000 (P1.4 million) going to the champion.
Also seeing action are Iran-born Alireza Firouzja, Armenia-born Levon Aronian, Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda, India’s Vidit Gujrathi, Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem, Russia’s Sergey Karjakin and the US’s Leinier Dominguez.