Harikrishna at a fifth-place; Wesley So on the top of the points table.

Even as American Wesley So climbed to the top spot ahead of world champion Magnus Carlsen, Indian Grandmaster P Harikrishna retained his joint fifth position in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz online chess tournament.

Harikrishna began well with a victory over American player Jeffery Xiong in 66 moves in the last three rounds of the Rapid case. Following a draw against another US player Hikaru Nakamura on Thursday, So outlasted the India number in 69 moves.

The win allowed So to take the lead in two days of Blitz events after nine rounds of the Rapid competition to come. At the hands of Russian Alexander Grischuk Carlsen crashed to a 46-move defeat.

So with 13 points followed by Carlsen (12) and the two Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russians and Alexander Grischuk on 10, he is in sole lead.

Harikrishna was able to manage just one more victory in his other six games after a positive start to his campaign with two wins on the opening day, which moved him to the centre of the points table. 

Levon Aronian and Hikaru Nakamura both shared the fifth position with the Indian.

The tournament ends with Blitz games Friday and Saturday.

A win fetches a player two points in any fast game, while a draw gets him one point. A win is worth one point in each blitz game, and interest gets a half-point for a player.

The ten players compete for $250,000 in prizes for nine easy games and eighteen blitz games over five days of play.

The St Louis Chess Club hosted tournament ends on September 19.

Overall standing:

Standings after the Rapid event: at the 1. So Wesley (13 points), the 2.

Magnus Carlsen (12) 3 is. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk (10 points); at 5 P Harikrishna, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura (9 points), 8. (7 points) Jeffery Xiong; on 9. Dominguez Leinier (8 points); 10. Alireza Firouzja (5 points).