
Wesley So halved the point with fellow American Sam Shankland to remain tied for second in Pool C of the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix’s third tournament in Berlin, Germany Wednesday.
Playing the black pieces, So and Shankland agreed to a draw after 51 moves of a Nimzo-Indian game to keep them tied at No. 2 in their bracket with one point.
The Cavite-born So drew with Alexandr Predke, a Russian carrying the FIDE flag, while Shankland halved the point with French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave the day before to stay half a point behind Predke.
So was battling nemesis Vahcier-Lagrave in the third round at press time, hoping to do better in this leg to earn enough Grand Prix points to get a chance at claiming one of the two berths to the Candidates Tournament set June 16 to July 7 in Madrid, Spain.
The Candidates will determine the rightful challenger to reigning classical champion Magnus Carlsen.
So was on his way to topping his group in the first leg also in Berlin but lost steam at the end of the group stage and eventually lost to another United States bet Leinier Perez Dominguez in their playoff duel that eliminated him from playoff round.