MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So seeks to grab the solo lead from reigning world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the sixth round of the 2015 Qatar Masters Open in Doha, Qatar.
So drew with Dutch GM Anish Giri after five rounds to share second spot with seven others with four points apiece, half a point behind Carlsen, who smashed Chinese GM Li Chao to seize the No. 1 spot with 4.5 points before taking on a Christmas Day break.
It will be a rematch between Carlsen and So since the former destroyed the latter in the Sinquefield Cup in the United States early in the year.
Carlsen ended up finishing second in that same tournament won by Armenian GM Levon Aronian while So wound up dead last.
But So has since regained bearing and in this nine-round Swiss System tournament staking a total cash pot of $130,000 and $27,000 to the Open winner, the Cavite-born chesser has racked up three wins and two draws to stay in title contention.
Carlsen will be his biggest test though.
So is with Giri, GMs Vladmir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin of Russia, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Dariusz Swiercz of Poland, Yu Yangyi of China and Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India.