Grandmaster Wesley So took the first of their two-set quarterfinal showdown against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, 3-1, to inch closer to the semifinals of the FTX Crypto Cup of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Thursday, May 27.
After drawing the first two of their four-game duel, the Fischer-random king and two-time United States champion went on attack mode in pulling off victories in the last two matches to gain the early upperhand.
The Cavite-born So will have a chance to finish off Vachier-Lagrave when they face off again Friday.
So is eyeing to finish big here and reclaim the overall tour lead he lost when world classical titlist Magnus Carlsen topped the New Chess Classic early this month.
Carlsen, though, may be facing trouble as his first semis match against American Hikaru Nakamura ended in a 2-2 draw.
Other quarters results saw Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan seizing a 2.5-1.5 lead over Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Fabiano Caruana of the United States and Ian Nepmoniachtchi of Russia battling to a 2-2 standoff.
The event stakes $220,000 in cash with $100,000 of that serving as a bonus paid in crypto coins.