So lurks at No.4 in Paris Grand Chess Tour

FILIPINO Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So posted two wins, three draws and one loss after six rounds to grab the fourth spot in the 2017 Paris Grand Chess Tour blitz competition being held at the Canal Factory Les Studios de Boulogne in Paris, France.

So, who represents the United States Chess Federation in international tournaments, blasted GM Fabiano Caruana of US in the opening round and GM Etienne Bacrot of France in the second round.

He split the point with GM Alexander Grischuk of Russia in the third round, GM Maxime VachierLagrave of France in the fifth and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the sixth. So’s lone defeat so far was against world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the fourth round. The 23-year-old Cavite City pride goes for crucial victories in the remaining rounds when he battles GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the seventh, defending champion GM Hikaru Nakamura of US in the eighth and GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the final round.

Carlsen is currently on top with 10 points followed by Nakamura (nine points), Mamedyarov (eight points), So (seven points), Grischuk (seven points), Vachier-Lagrave (six points), Karjakin (five points), Topalov (four points), Bacrot (three points) and Caruana (one point).

After the rapid category, the next event in the tournament will be the blitz competition - a double round- robin format.

A total of $150,000 cash prize is at stake in the Paris Grand Chess Tour with the champion taking home a whopping $37,500 top purse and the runner-up getting $30,000 consolation prize.

In rapid, a win is equivalent to two points and one point for a draw.