World champion Magnus Carlsen grabbed the solo lead with eight other Grandmasters, including Wesley So, tailing him after the fifth round of Qatar Masters Open 2015 on Thursday in Doha.
Carlsen, the tournament’s top seed, subdued Chinese GM Li Chao for his fourth straight win that raised the Norwegian’s total to 4.5 points.
The Cavite-born So, now representing the United States, drew with Dutch star Anish Giri after 62 moves of a King’s Indian Attack and was at 4.0 points with his rival, Russian Vladimir Kramnik, Azerbaijan Shakhriyar Mamedrayov, Indian Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Polish Darius Swiercz, Russian Sergey Karjakin and Chinese Yu Yangyi.
Other fifth round matches saw Kramnik beat Matlakov, Karjakin down Russian GM Daniil Dubov, Mamendrayov trounce Russian GM Denis Khismatullin and Yu dump compatriot Xu Yinglun.
The nine-round Swiss System tournament took a break Friday and will resume with the sixth round Saturday.
Carlsen and So will tangle in board 1 with So, who played black against Giri, handling white. Their seventh draw left So still trailing Giri, 1-3, in their personal duel.