Filipino-born Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So continued to impress amid the pandemic by building a considerable gap ahead of top French Maxime Vachier-Lagrava, 5.5-2.5, in the first half of their quarterfinal duel in the Clutch Chess International that is being played online on Sunday.
Winner of the first US edition of the tournament which earned him P1.5 million last week, the eighth-seeded So kept his second-seeded opponent at bay with three straight draws before winning the next three matches to pull away in their 12-game rapid series.
The 26-year-old Caviteño also beat No. 2 Fabiano Caruana via tiebreak in the US edition.
The tournament’s international edition lured the world’s the top eight players led by reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen.
The online competition was created by American Grandmaster Maurice Ashley and offers a total prize pool of $265,000 or more than P13 million.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Carlsen, representing Norway, thumped the US’s Jeffrey Xiong, 4.5-3.5; Caruana blew past fellow the US’s Leinier Dominguez Perez, 5.5-2.5; while Armenia’s Levon Aronian drubbed Russia’s Alexander Grischuk, 5-3.
So went for the win over the French in their remaining six matches on Monday. If he wins, he would face eighter Caruana or Dominguez in the semifinals.
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