Wesley at 4th spot in blitz chess
Grandmaster Wesley So scored five points out of a possible nine in the first of the two-day blitz section to stay at fourth spot in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz of the Grand Chess Tour Saturday.
The Cavite-born, 27-year-old So won against Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, United States’ Jeffery Xiong and Russia’s Peter Svidler before losing to fellow Americans Sam Shankland and Fabiano Caruana in a roller-coaster blitz day.
The world Fischer-Random king and two-time United States titlist drew with the US’ Leinier Dominguez Perez, Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem, Hungary’s Richard Rapport and solo leader Hikary Nakamura of the United States.
After 18 rounds including nine in the rapid event, So has 14 points to trail four points behind Nakamura’s 18-point production.
Caruana was second with 15.5 while Rapport third with 14.5 points.
So has also struggled in the rapid part where he had a win to go with a loss and seven draws in a round where a victory is equivalent to two points and a draw one point.
In the blitz, a win is just one point while a draw is half a point.
So has a chance to finish stronger as the final nine rounds are set Sunday.