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Wesley So suffers heartbreaker in Superbet Chess

Sports

Wesley So suffers heartbreaker in Superbet Chess

By Kristel Satumbaga-Villar

Wesley So suffered yet another heartbreaker as he blew what could have been the title and settled for a second place finish in the 2022 Grand Chess Tour’s Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania Saturday.

The two-time United States champion missed several winning chances and suffered a devastating loss to France’s Vachier-Lagrave in the three-player playoff for the title with another American Levon Aronian.

Vachier-Lagrave, who caught up with the leaders after stunning World No. 3 Alireza Firouzja of France in the ninth and last round of regulation play, then bested Aronian in the final playoff game to rule the event.

So, who won the first playoff match with Aronian, wound up second in a tournament he came close to winning before missing a winning move in the end game that led to his defeat.

Aronian finished third.

So also once led the tournament early on but played too cautious for his own good by drawing his remaining games that allowed Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave to catch up on him.

He, however, still earned 10 GCT points like Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian plus a purse worth $67,667 (P3.5 million).

The Fischer-Random king will next play in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz set Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland.

Related Tags

Wesley So Superbet Chess Classic Grand Chess Tour

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