Wesley So won the low-key final leg of the Fide Grand Prix in Berlin on Monday, but the US world No 7 missed out on what mattered to him most, qualification for June’s world title Candidates in Madrid.
So and Hikaru Nakamura, who was already sure of overall Grand Prix victory and a Candidates place, made little effort in their two classical games. The second ended after just a few minutes play with what has become the standard tacitly agreed fast drawing sequence for top grandmaster chess, a Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence leading to threefold repetition.