Wesley So loses last round, but winds up second in Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals
Wesley So lost to Anish Giri of the Netherlands that was decided by Armageddon play, 5-4, in the seventh and last round but still wound up second behind winner Magnus Carlsen in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals in San Francisco, California Sunday, Nov. 20.

So was assisted by Carlsen’s 3-1 victory over Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland as the Cavite-born American finished with 13 points, enough to seal him the runner-up trophy.
Carlsen, the reigning classical titlist, ran away with the crown with an unbeaten score of 20 points, a clear seven points ahead of So.
But the second-place effort should suffice with So, who started the seven-round meet with two straight defeats to Carlsen and Vietnamese Le Quang Liem that sent him spiraling down the bottom.
The former world Fischer-Random king and two-time United States champion, however, sprang back to life by racking up four wins in a row over Indians Arjun Erigiasi and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Duda.
Against Giri, So fought to four draws in regulation and was on the cusp of taking the match win when he won the first of two tiebreak matches.
The Dutch star, however, rebounded by seizing the next game and forcing the deciding duel that Giri eventually won.