WORLD champion Magnus Carlsen bounced back from a stinging loss in Round 4, coming away with a quick 29-move triumph over Filipino grandmaster Wesley So.
The white-playing So used the Scotch Defense game in his encounter with Carlsen on Sunday in the 5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Grand Chess Tour in Saint Louis, Missouri.
The win helped Carlsen, the world’s no. 1 player in the FIDE rankings, ease the pain he felt following a heartbreaking loss to solo leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 71 moves of an English Opening.
According to analysts, So stunned Carlsen with the Scotch Game.
He had an advantage before things went downhill following a pawn sacrifice.
Carlsen’s black pieces were able to penetrate the backrank and attack So’s weak pawns in the ensuing play.
The 23-year-old So, the current US Champion, was down by two pawns when he quit.
Vachier-Lagrave drew with Levon Aronian in 45 moves of a Guioco Piano to stay in the solo lead with 3.5 points.
Carlsen shares second (three points) with Viswanathan Anand, who won over Fabiano Caruana in 29 moves of an English opening.
Caruana had 2.5 points with Aronian and Sergey Karjakin, who drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi in 60 moves of a Pirc Defense.
So has two points with Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler and Nepmniachtchi.