
Grandmaster Wesley So bounced back from a lethargic start by scoring 3.5 points in the sixth to 10th rounds to barge into the magic eight in the New In Chess Classic of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Monday, April 26.
So, 27, downed former World Challenger Sergey Karjakin of Russia and Indian Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, then drew with Vietnamese Le Quang Liem, American Leinier Dominguez Perez and Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov to improve to 5.5 points.
With his Day 2 performance, So improved from a share of 11th place to joint seventh with Armenia-born Levon Aronian and Norwegian Aryan Tari.
World classical champion Magnus Carlsen zoomed to the top with seven points, half a point ahead of United States’ Hikaru Nakamura and Iran-born Alireza Firouzja, who have 6.5 points each.
Radjabov, who led on Day 1, slipped to a share of fourth with Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Le with 6 points each.
So, the overall tour leader, hopes to keep his current position to stay in contention for a fifth straight quarterfinal appearance as he plays Carlsen, Nakamura, Tari, Aronian, and Norway’s Johan-Sebastian Chrstiansen in the last five rounds of the preliminaries Tuesday.