So blows chance to win, settles for draw with Sutovsky

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands - GM Wesley So of the Philippines threw away an excellent chance to win for the third time in four games when he allowed former world junior champion GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel to escape with a draw in the ninth round of the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Morian Community Centre. So vaulted to strong positional advantage with the advantageous white pieces and looked headed to another smashing triumph against the time-pressured Sutovsky with a clear pawn advantage in a rook and knight ending.

But the 16-year-old So missed the right continuation despite his advantage on time and allowed the Baku, Azerbaijan-born Sutovsky to force a standoff in 42 moves of the Gruendfeld. When the truce was reached, So had a rook, knight and four pawns against the rook, knight and three pawns of the 33-year-old Sutovsky. Chessdom.com analyst GM Buenaventura “Bong" Villamayor said So obviously prepared to meet Sutovsky’s specialty Gruendfeld, a sharp opening played extensively before by world champions Bobby Fischer, Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. But Villamayor noted that So over-extended himself and tried to blitz his way despite the obvious lack of time of Sutovsky, who is best remembered for winning the European championship in 2001. “It was a wasted opportunity for Wesley. He had good preparation and gained an almost decisive advantage with Sutovsky under time pressure," said Villamayor, who was assigned by Chessdom.com to analyze So’s games in Corus. Overall, So now has 5.5 points on two wins and seven draws with still four rounds remaining. The high school student at St. Francis College-Cavite is a full point behind solo leader GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands and half a point behind GMs Ni Hua of China an Erwin l’Ami of the Netherlands. The 15-year-old Giri suffered his first setback in the 13-round, category-16 tournament, losing in upset to lone female participant IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia in 55 moves of the Sicilian to remain with 6.5 points. Ni whipped GM Varuzhan Akobian of the United States, while l’Ami toppled GM David Howell of England to stay within striking distance with six points. Wednesday’s 10th-round action will see Giri taking on top seed Gm Arkadij Naidtisch of Germany, Ni battling GM Parimarjan Negi of India, l’Ami facing second seed GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania and So going up against GM Tomi Nyback of Finland. - GMANews.TV