Wesley So still leads Grand Chess Tour despite finishing 3rd in Superbet Rapid & Blitz

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So lost to both Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the second round-robin of blitz play on Thursday, May 25 (Friday, May 26, Manila time), and settled for joint third in the 2023 Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

Shrugging off the defeats to Carlsen, the eventual titlist; and Duda, the deposed champion, the Filipino-born So managed to win three games and draw four to raise his total to 21.5 points, the same as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who he split the point with in the 16th round.

Powered by a seven-game run, including five in the first round-robin, Carlsen pooled 24 points, towing local icon Duda, who finished with 23, in the tournament serving as the second leg of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour (GCT).

Still, the performance of So was good enough to put him on top of the overall GCT point standings with 15.3, counting his second place-finish to Fabiano Caruana in the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, the inaugural leg of the $1.4 million (P70.8 million) GCT.

So, now a key member of Team USA, beat Radosław Wojtaszek, Anish Giri, and Kirill Shevchenko, and draw with Richard Rapport, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Bogdan Deac.

Carlsen, who started the tournament with a loss to Wostazek, bagged the $40,000 champion’s purse, while Duda pocketed $30,000.

So and Vachier-Lagrave earned $22,500 each. Aronian placed fifth with 20.5 points. – Rappler.com