So gets third straight draw in Corus chess tilt

Published January 19, 2010 12:23pm

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands - GM Wesley So of the Philippines settled for his third straight draw, this time against GM Varuzhan Akobian of the United States, in the third round of the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre. So, who is seeking a fitting follow-up to his smashing title triumph in Group C of the same tournament last year, vaulted into slight positional advantage with the white pieces but ran into the tough-defending Akobian in a sharp middle game battle.

Filipino GM Wesley So, left, versus American GM Varuzhan Akobian.

Knowing that he could make nothing from the endgame where he had a queen and four pawns against Akobian's two rooks and three pawns, the sixth-seeded So (ELO 2656) agreed to share the point for the third time in as many rounds. The truce was reached after 33 moves. The draw followed similar results in the first two rounds where the 16-year-old Filipino chesser also split the point with top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and GM Erwin l'Ami of the Netherlands. Overall, So remains in a tie for fourth to 10th places with 1.5 points in the 14-player, category-16 Group B tournament. The fourth year high school student at St. Francis of Assisi College is a full point behind co-leaders GMs Ni Hua of China and Anish Giri of the Netherlands and half a point behind second-running Naiditsch. Ni, seeded fourth with an ELO of 2657, crushed GM Tomi Niyback of Finland, to join Giri in the early lead. Giri, the 15-year-old Dutch ace, settled for a draw with compatriot GM Dimitri Reindermann.

Standings after three rounds: 2.5 points -- A. Giri (Netherlands), H. Ni (China) 2 -- A. Naiditsch (Germany) 1.5 -- W. So (RP), E. Sutovsky (Israel), D. Howell (England), P. Negi (India), L. Nisipeanu (Romania), E. l' Ami (Netherlands), P. Harikrishna (India) 1 -- T. Nyback (Finland), A. Muzychuk (Slovenia), V. Akobian (US), 0 .5 -- D. Reindermann (Netherlands)

Naiditsch, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2687, halved the point with GM Parimarjan Negi of India. GM Pentala Harikrishna of India outclassed lone female participant IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia to join So and five other players with 1.5 points. Action continues with the fourth round on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) with So playing black against Negi. Ni and Giri dispute the solo lead when they square off in the battle of frontrunners. Naiditsch meets Harikrishna in the other featured encounter. - GMANews.TV

Tags: philippinechess, wesleyso, courschess, worldchesscup