“It’s a miracle, really…When I lost my game to Hikaru I was about to cry, because I thought I don’t even get to play tiebreaks”- Wesley So at the closing ceremony.
There was a big shake up in the standings after a full day of blitz. Wesley So still leads the tournament but his lead has narrowed to only one and a half points. The 2016 World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin dominated the day by scoring 6.5 points out of 9. He is now tied for second place in the overall standings with Levon Aronian. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura are still also striking distance away from the leaders. With nine more rounds tomorrow, the tournament is still wide open, as a good or bad day for one of the leaders could completely change the outcome.
The rapid portion of Your Next Move came to an end with Wesley So winning the rapid portion with a round to spare. He now leads the pack with a comfortable advantage as his closest rivals, Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are three points behind. The next two days of blitz promise to bring a lot of action and excitement. Since nine games will be played on each day, a bad day for So could mean a complete turn around in the standings. However, in blitz, the wins are only worth one point, thus giving So a big edge over the rest of the field.
The first leg of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour, Your Next Move, kicked off in Lueven, Belgium today with three rapid games. After three rounds, Wesley So emerged as a clear leader with two wins and one draw. Interestingly enough, last year the American won the rapid portion of Leuven. Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin are trailing the leader with one point. The shockers of the round were current World Rapid Champion Viswanathan Anand and World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana’s results, both of whom only scored one point.