Chess: Wesley So wins in Berlin but laments failure to qualify for Candidates

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.

In the ensuing tiebreak rapid games, Nakamura blundered a piece and that was the end. The five-time US champion-turned-streamer with more than a million followers was probably more interested in the chess.com Arena Kings, Titled Tuesday and Rapid Chess Championship.

The Rapid, staged every weekend, has within a few weeks become one of the most significant online events, rivalling the Meltwater Champions Tour that features on the rival website chess24.com. It is open to the top 100 world grandmasters, plus juniors and wildcards, and is backed by Coinbase with a $625,000 (£478,000) prize fund. Its format is a Swiss on Saturday with a 10+0 time limit, then a knockout on Sunday.

After seven weeks play three of the four leaders are Americans – Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian and Nakamura – but six of the top nine are Russians, all playing without any flag.

After completing his Berlin victory, So admitted that he had not played well enough to qualify for Madrid, and added: “I am only 28, and hoping that in the next couple of years I will get a chance to play in the Candidates … If you qualify, you have to be ready to fight for first place.”

The moment that spoilt So’s chances came in