Wesley So drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the ninth and final round to finish fourth in the WR Chess Masters in Dusseldorf, Germany Saturday, Feb. 25.
So split the point in 59 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Defense to finish with 4.5 points, one point behind Levon Aronian of the United States, Dommaraju Gukesh of India and Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi with 5.5 points apiece.
The Armenia-born Aronian eventually took home the title after beating Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi in the playoff tiebreakers with the latter two winding up second and third, respectively.
So could have at least put up a fight for the crown had he not lost his penultimate-round duel with German teener Vincent Keymer in a 50-move result of a Giuoco Piano.
Keymer ended up in a five-way logjam at No. 5 with four points but wound up at No. 6 after tiebreaks were applied.
The German also avenged his defeat to So in the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands last month.