Wesley So faltered in the last three rounds of the second and final day of blitz and blew his title chance by winding up at fifth in the Grand Chess Tour’s Super United Rapid and Blitz that concluded Monday in Zagreb, Croatia.
Trailing by just 1.5 points and at second place behind eventual winner Magnus Carlsen going into the final three rounds, So managed just a draw with France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and lost to fellow American Leinier Dominguez Perez and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi that knocked him out of contention.
The Cavite-born So ended up with 21 points.
Interestingly, Carlsen also scored just half a point in that same span but still ruled the event with 22.5 points.
If the world Fischer-Random king and two-time United States champion hadn’t stumbled in the final stretch, he could have snatched the title away from the Norwegian star and the top purse worth $40,000.