MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Wesley So steps up his title drive in the United States Chess Championship as he clashes with defending champion GM Hikaru Nakamura in the sixth round at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
So, playing his second US Open after changing federations three years ago, dismantled GM Varuzhan Akobian’s French Defense in just 24 moves to join Fabiano Caruana at the helm with four points.
The win also avenged So’s controversial defeat to Akobian last year when the former’s game was forfeited for improper notation on his scoresheet.
So also moved up from No. 10 to No. 8 in the world ranking with a live rating of 2779.8.
After taking a much-needed one-day break, the 11-round tournament, which stakes $50,000 to the champion, resumed last night with So battling defending champion and four-time winner Nakamura at press time.
Nakamura bounced back from a defeat to Caruana in the fourth round by beating GM Samuel Shankland in the fifth round to force a three-way tie for fourth with Jeffrey Xiong and Alexander Onischuk with three points.
GM Ray Robson was at solo No. 3 with 3.5 points.