Wesley So smashed fellow American Fabiano Caruana to zoom to solo second after three rounds of the Grand Chess Tour’s 2022 Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, United States Sunday, Sept. 4.
So prevailed after 67 moves of a Petroff Defense to improve to two points, just half a point behind solo leader Hans Moke Niemann also of the United States.
Niemann is coming off a stunning victory over reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen to hike his tally to 2.5 points in this nine-round tournament staking a total cash purse worth $350,000 (P19.8 million) with the lion share of $100,000 (P5.6 million) going to the eventual champion.
So next battles Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in the fourth round.
Nepomniachtchi, who lost to Carlsen in the world title match last year, was in a five-player tie for third with Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, and Leinier Dominguez-Perez of the United States with 1.5 points each.