So, Chinese GM battle to a draw in Corus chess

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands - After a pair of inspiring victories in the sixth and seventh rounds, GM Wesley So of the Philippines had another draw to show in the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre Sunday (Monday in Manila). So and fellow GM Ni Hua of China retraced the memory of a game they played in Manila four years ago and came up with yet another draw after only 17 moves of the Sicilian Maroczy Bind. The draw left both So and the fourth-seeded Ni (ELO 2657) in a three-way tie for second to fourth places with GM Erwin l’ Ami of the Netherlands with an eight-round total of five points.

The three, however, are now one-and-a half points behind solo leader GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands with only five rounds remaining in this prestigious, category-16 Group B competition. Giri, the 15-year-old Nepal-born champion who now plays for the Netherlands, outduelled GM David Howell of England in 40 moves of the Gruendfeld to raise his score to 6.5 points on five wins and three draws. Chessdom.com analyst GM Buenaventura “Bong" Villamayor observed that Ni, who is best remembered for winning the tough Reggio Emilia super GM tournament in 2008, and So battled to “an equal position with white having the bind and black enjoying some counterplay." “The players have played the Rossolimo variation of the Sicilian before in 2006 during the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Cup which ended in a draw. But the Chinese transposed it to a Maroczy Bind structure, which offers more positional approach to restrict black's counterplay," explained Villamayor . When the game was drawn, the Chinese and the Filipino had equal number of pieces – queen, two rooks, two knights, one bishop and seven pawns. Match-wise, So enjoys a 2-1 lead over Ni in their three meetings so far. The 16-year-old Filipino champion shocked the higher-rated Chinese champion during the Philippines-China match in the 2008 World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. The 13-round Corus tournament on the wind-swept Dutch resort town takes the second of three rest days on Monday. So’s next opponent is fifth seed GM Emil Sutovksy of Israel, who halved the point with top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany in another featured eighth round encounter. So’s remaining opponents are GM Tomi Nyback of Finland in the 10th round; Giri in the 11th; Howell in the 12th; and lone female participant IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia in the final round. Shirov paces Group A In Group A, GM Alexei Shirov of Spain fended off the aggressive attempt of GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway to take revenge for an earlier setback in another tournament last year, notching up a half point to maintain the lead. GM Vladimir Kramnik of Russia climbed one spot in the standings to share second place with Carlsen on the strength of a 44-move victory with white from a Dutch defense against Hikaru Nakamura of the United States. Kramnik and Carlsen have 5.5 points, while Nakamura has five. - GMANews.TV