Wesley So leads Sinquefield Cup through 5 rounds

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So drew with fellow Team USA member Leinier Dominguez in the fifth round on Saturday, November 25 (Sunday, November 26, Manila time), to keep the solo lead in the 2023 Sinquefield Cup at the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri.

The draw came after the Filipino-born So posted the $350,000 (P19.4 million) tournament’s first win at the expense of Hungarian-born Richard Rapport, now representing Romania, in the fourth round on Friday.

Counting his earlier draws against reigning titlist Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri, So raised his total to 3 points and stayed on course for the $100,000 (P5.5 million) champion’s purse.

Trailing So with 2.5 points are two-time world championship challenger Nepomniachtchi, 2021 Sinquefield Cup winner Vachier-Lagrave, and Levon Aronian, who bested Firouzja in the fifth round’s lone decided match.

Vachier-Lagrave and Nepomniachtchi split the point and so did Rapport against Giri.

Fabiano Caruana took a bye and was lodged at 2 points with Firouzja, Giri, and Dominguez.

The concluding event of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour (GCT) circuit took a break on Sunday and will resume with the sixth round on Monday.

So will tackle Aronian, while Firouzja will battle Caruana, who is already assured of this year’s GCT overall title. Rapport will face Vachier-Lagrave and Giri will clash with Dominguez. Nepomniachtchi will take a bye.

The event was reduced to nine players and eight rounds following the last-minute withdrawal of 2021 Fide World Cup champion Jan-Krzysztof Duda due to health issues. – Rappler.com