So world No. 2 in rapid chess

MANILA, Philippines — Wesley So drew his last three games including one against Indian Vishwanathan Anand in the ninth and final round to top the rapid section and zoom to No. 2 in the world rapid rankings of the Paris Grand Chess Tour in Paris, France Friday night.

After nine rounds, the Cavite-born, Minnetonka, Minnesota bet had racked up 12 points on four wins and four draws against a lone defeat, or one point ahead of United States teammate Hikaru Nakamura who had 11 points.

It was an effort that catapulted So from 14th to No. 2 in the rapid rankings with a live rating of 2851 behind No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion.

So will go into the last two days of the 18-round blitz event hoping to keep the lead and secure his second title after topping the first leg of the five-stage Grand Chess Tour series in Leuven, Belgium two weeks ago.

Interestingly, So barely won in Leuven as he nearly blew his three-point lead by losing his last two games in blitz.

So had another strong start, winning four of his first five games at the expense of current World Challenger Fabinao Caruana of the US, French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Russians Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk.

His only loss came at the hands of Azeri Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the second round.

He drew his last four games to keep the lead.