Chess

Wesley So keeps top spot in US Chess Championship

Roy Luarca

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Wesley So keeps top spot in US Chess Championship
Wesley So, the Philippines' top player before switching to the US federation, keeps hold of the lead in the 2020 US Chess Championship

Wesley So stretched his win streak to 5 then settled for a sixth-round draw with fellow super Grandmaster Leinier Dominguez to keep the solo lead in the 2020 US Chess Championship on Tuesday, October 27 (Wednesday, October 28, Philippine time).

The Cavite-born So, the Philippines’ top player before switching to the US federation, raised his total to 5.5 points and kept his half-point edge over fellow Team USA members Jeffery Xiong and Ray Robson with 5 rounds left in the $150,000 (P7.5 million) single round-robin event.

Living up to his 2770 Elo rating, So beat Sam Shankland, also a Team USA member, in the fourth round and Dariusz Swiercz in the fifth before agreeing to a truce with the second-seeded Dominguez.

The 19-year-old Xiong trounced Dominguez in the fourth, drew with Sam Sevian in the fifth, and kept pace with So by besting Elshan Morabiadi in the sixth.

Robson, 25, traced Xiong’s route by thwarting Swiercz, drawing with Dominguez, and taming Sevian.

Reigning titlist Hikaru Nakamura posted his first win against Alejandro Ramirez in the fourth, drew with Moradiabadi in the fifth, but got ambushed by 17-year-old Awonder Liang in the sixth to languish at 3 points.

Bunched with Nakamura, a five-time winner of the annual event featuring America’s elite players, were Sevian and Shankland, the 2018 champion.

Aiming to regain the crown he won in 2017, So battles Sevian in the seventh round, Moradiabadi in the eighth, and Xiong in the ninth, all scheduled on Thursday (Philippine time). – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!