Wesley So tackles Firouzja, Magnus Carlsen faces heated foe Niemann in World Blitz KO

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So flashed his old form and advanced to the quarterfinals of the blitz section of the 2024 World Rapid & Blitz Championships on Monday, December 30 (Tuesday, December 31, Manila time) at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Atoning for his dismal stint in the rapid section where he finished out of the money race, the Filipino-born So, now a Team USA mainstay, posted 9.5 points out of a perfect 13 in the elimination round and joined defending champion Magnus Carlsen and six others in the Open division knockout stage.

Other 9.5 pointers were Americans Fabiano Caruana and Hans Moke Niemann, French No. 1 Alireza Firouzja, Russian No. 1 Ian Nepomniachtchi, Polish No. 1 Jan-Krzystoff Duda, and new Rapid world champion Volodar Murzin of Russia.

The four-game quarterfinal matches pit top qualifier Nepomniachtchi against Murzin, No. 4 seed So against No. 2 Firouzja, No. 5 Caruana against No. 7 Duda, and No. 1 Carlsen against No. 18 Niemann.

Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating after losing to the American in the third round of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup and withdrew. Niemann sued and was later found innocent by the FIDE Ethics Committee.

En route to the quarterfinals, So won over GMs Fidel Corrales Jimenez, Laurent Fressinent, Andrey Esipenko, Murzin, Alexey Sarana, R. Praggnanandhaa, and Anis Giri, and drew with Levon Aronian, Caruana, Carlsen, Samuel Sevian, and Daniel Naroditsky in the 13th and final round.

Fellow American Sam Shankland handed So his lone loss in the fourth round.

New York-based Filipino GM Oliver Barbosa finished with 5.5 points and landed 127th among 188 bets.
Speed chess exponent and third-seeded Hikaru Nakamura crashed out of the top 20 with 8.5 points.

All quarterfinalists are assured of at least $20,000 (P1.16 million), with the champion bagging $90,000 (P5.2 million). – Rappler.com

$1 = P57.845