So he loses strength, faces the match he must win against Vachier-Lagrave – Manila Bulletin

Grandmaster Wesley So lost to the White pieces twice to France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and lost the first of two four-game quarter-final matches, 3-1, at the Airthings Masters of the Champions Chess Tour on Wednesday. .

So, 27, yielded to Vachier-Lagrave’s Sicilian Defense in the second and fourth games, as he tied the first and third games in a pair of Ruy Lopez games that allowed his French rival to take the lead.

So, those who reached the quarters as the second seed after a solid and undefeated performance in the preliminaries, will have to take the final mini-game set on Thursday to tie their duel and force a decisive tiebreaker showdown.

He is also looking to replicate his triumphant effort at the Skilling Open, where he surprised world champion Magnus Carlsen by snatching the crown from him a month ago.

The winner of the So-Vachier-Lagrave duel will advance to the semifinals against the winner between Levon Aronian of Armenia and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States.

Aronian leads his match, 2.5-1.5.

In the other group, Carlsen faces Russian Daniil Dubov to a 2-2 stalemate, while Azerbaijani Teimour Radjabov and Russian Ian Nepomniactchi meet to break a 2-2 division.

More results at championschesstour.com.