Wesley So tackles Carlsen in Asian Rapid quarterfinals

A collision of titans Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So will highlight Day 1 of the Goldmoney Asian Rapid quarterfinals on Tuesday night, June 29.

Overshadowed by the Carlsen-So tussle are the other playoff matches pitting Levon Aronian against teen prospect Arjun Erigaishi, Vladislav Artemiev against Anish Giri, and world No. 3 Ding Liren against Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

This will be the fifth Champions Chess Tour encounter between Carlsen, the longtime world champion, and So, the two-time United States titlist, who have won two stages each and are ranked 1-2 overall in both points and earnings.

So, the pride of Bacoor City, Cavite, beat Carlsen in the Skilling Open and Opera Euro Rapid finals, while the Norwegian icon prevailed in their battle for third in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational and the FTX Crypto Cup title.

Sans Carlsen, So is lording it over in the country-hopping Grand Chess Tour, placing joint second in the inaugural Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania, and routing the field in last week’s Paris Rapid & Blitz in France.

Aronian won over hard-lick Alireza Firouzja and Daniil Dubov then drew with women’s world champion Hou Yifan, Artemiev, and So in the last five rounds of the preliminaries on Monday, June 28, to emerge unbeaten and the top qualifier with 10.5 points out of a perfect 15.

Artemiev, the 2019 European champion from Russia, came in second with 10 points, Ding third with 9.5, and Carlsen and So fourth and fifth with 9 each.

Duda squeezed out a win over Gukesh D in the 15th and last round to catch up with Giri and the 17-year-old Erigaisi of India at 8 points.

Firouzja also hurdled his last two matches for 8 points but missed the quarterfinals due to the lowest tiebreak.

Other touted bets who missed the cut were Peter Svidler with 6.5 points and Dubov with 6.

The two-day playoffs will consist of four games each. If the Day 1 match ends at 2-2, it would be a draw with the Day 2 match deciding the outcome.

In case it still ends in a draw, there would be two blitz games, and, if necessary, an Armageddon. – Rappler.com