Grandmaster Wesley So yielded to reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the fifth round to drop at the bottom standings in the Sinquefield Cup Classic Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Cavite-born So bowed after 29 moves of a Scotch game to Carlsen and absorbed his second defeat against one victory and one loss.
He remained with 2 points along with Russian GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi and Peter Svidler, as well as GM Hikaru Nakamura of the United States.
Carlsen, for his part, moved to joint second with GM Viswanathan Anand of India with 3 points, just half a point behind leader GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
The Frenchmen halved a point with Armenian GM Levon Aronian in 45 moves of a Giuoco Piano.
The nine-round tournament takes a break before it resumes today, where So hopes to regain his bearings when he next faces with Aronian.