Wesley kisses world title bid goodbye

MANILA, Philippines — Wesley So’s world title bid suffered a painful blow as he was shown the door by fellow American Leinier Dominguez Perez in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 in Berlin, Germany last Friday.

So’s timid play backfired as he drew with the white pieces in the first rapid tiebreaker and was even more passive in the second that enabled the Cuban-born chesser to launch the decisive attack in sealing a 1.5-.5 win and a semifinal berth where the latter clashes with fellow American Levon Aronian.

The other semis pair pits the the United States’ Hikaru Nakamura and Hungary’s Richard Rapport in this tournament that stakes two slots to the Candidates Tournament slated June 16 to July 7 in Madrid, Spain where the winner clashes with Magnus Carlsen for the world classical title.

It could have been So, the world Fischer-Random king and two-time US champion playing there rather than Perez.

So had all the chances to advance to the semis as he beat Perez with his aggressive play to gain a full-point lead in Pool D.

But the Cavite-born chesser played it too cautiously and drew his last two games in the group stages including one where he completely missed several winning lines against Indian Pentala Harikrishna.