So, Carlsen aim for Clutch Chess Invitational semis

MANILA, Philippines – Resurgent Wesley So and world champion Magnus Carlsen aim to finish off their opponents on Sunday, June 7 (Monday, June 8, Manila time), in the Clutch Chess Invitational.

Ahead by 3 points over France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, So needs to win only 1 of Games 7 to 10, worth 1 point each, and draw the concluding 11th and 12th games, worth 3 points each, of their quarterfinal match to advance to the semifinals of the $265,000 event.

Only a point up over Jeffery Xiong (4.5-3.5), top seed Carlsen is bracing for a down-the-wire tussle against the 2016 world junior champion because of the novel format created by Grandmaster Maurice Ashley.

The Cavite-born So leaned on his fifth game victory, worth 2 points with a $2,000 bonus, to pull away from second seed Vachier-Lagrave, 5.5-2.5, and stay on track to duplicating his triumph in the $100,000 Clutch Chess Champions Showdown recently.

If So, now competing for the United States, and Carlsen, a sports icon in Norway, prevail, they will clash in a 12-game semifinals affair.

The other semifinal slot will be contested by the winners of the other quarterfinal matches pitting Armenian Levon Aronian against Russian Alexander Grischuk and United States bets Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez.

Eager to recover from his Champions Showdown finals loss to So, Caruana posted a 5.5-2.5 spread over Dominguez on Saturday, June 6, and pocketed $2,000 like So and Aronian.

Aronian won Game 6 to break free from Grischuk, 5-3. He yielded Game 1 to Grischuk and drew Games 2, 4, and 5.

After losing Game 1 and drawing Game 2, Caruana won Games 3, 4, and the pivotal Game 5 before settling for a draw in Game 6. – Rappler.com