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Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So of the United States took the lead with four others in the opening of the three-day preliminary of the Airthings Masters, the first major tournament of the Chess Champions Tour, on Sunday (Philippine time).
So he settled for three draws en route to a victory over Russian-born Dutch GM Anish Giri. The other three players, who scored 2.5 points on Day 1, were American GM Hikaru Nakamura, Armenian GM Levon Aronian, Russian GM Daniil Dubov, and Azerbaijan GM Teimour Radjavov.
The 12-player tournament will run from December 26 to January 3 of next year with no rest day. All games are in quick format (15 + 10) in 15 minutes in 10 second increments.
Those behind with 2 points were GM Alexander Grischuk of Russia, GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, GM Pentala Harikrishna of India and Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. The only player with 1.5 points was GM Maxine Vachier-Lagrave from France, while Giri and GM David Anton Guijarro from Spain recorded 2 points each.
The winner will receive $ 60,000 double the jackpot So won at the Skilling Open. The 12 players will meet in a single round-robin over three days and four rounds will be played per day. The top eight will advance to the quarterfinals; then four to the semifinals; and finally, to the championship round.
The winner also automatically qualifies for the grand championship in September, a competition to determine the best fast-playing player in the world.
In round 1, only Nakamura (black) achieved a victory at Grischuk’s expense in 64 Giuoco Piano moves. In round 2, Aronian defeated Giri in 40 Sicilian Najdort Variation moves. Radjabov beat Anton Guijarro in 51 moves by QGD Ragozin, while Grischuk (black) defeated Nepomniachtchi in 59 moves also by Giuoco Piano.
In round 3, only So (Black) recorded a win at Giri’s expense in just 25 Reti Opening moves. In the fourth round, Dubov subdued Anton Guijarro in 44 moves from the Catalan, and Nepomniachtchi defeated Vachier-Lagrave in 69 moves of Nardorf’s Sicilian Variation.
Giri vs So
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Ag2 e6 4. OO Be7 5. c4 OO 6. b3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Ab2 Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Qc7 11. Qb1 e5 12. e3 f5 13. Rc1 Be6 14. Db2 Af6 15. Ce1 Rad8 16. d3 Ad5 17. b4 Bxg2 18. Rxg2 cxb4 19. Axb4 Rf7 20. Ac3 f4 21. exf4 exf4 22. Rab1 Bxc3 23. Qxc3 Qd7 24. Qc5 Nd4 25. Rc4 f3 + 0-1.
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