GM So draws 7th-round match, stays in the hunt

MOSCOW - GM Wesley So of the Philippines battled and GM Artyom Timofeev of Russia to a short and uneventful draw in the seventh round but remained within striking distance in the 2010 Aeroflot Open chess tournament at the Hotel Gamma-Delta. So, seeded 17th with an ELO of 2656, and Timofeev, ranked 20th with ELO 2652, decided to split the point after the Russian’s 21st move, capturing the Filipino’s pawn on c6 with his knight.

The two players, however, have the same number of pieces on the board – queen, rook, bishop and five pawns for the Filipino, and queen, rook, knight and five pawns for the Russian when they agreed to a standoff. The draw, which he achieved from the black side of the board, enabled So to remain in a tie for sixth to 16th places with 4.5 points, only half a point behind GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Boris Savchenko and Boris Grachev, all of Russia, and GMs Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, both of Vietnam. At the same time, So boosted his chances to capture the top junior award for the second straight year. The 16-year-old Filipino champion, who has three wins, three draws and only one loss in the tough, nine-round tournament, is half a point ahead of GM Sanan Sjugirov of Russia and a full point ahead of GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan for the top plum for junior players. Last year, So edged Safarli, Sjugirov and GM Ray Robson of the United States for the award. So, who was voted as the “Chess Player of the Year" by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA), resumes his campaign when he plays white against No. 33 seed GM Zhou Jianchao of China in the penultimate eighth round. Jianchao (ELO 2632), however, is fresh from a stunning upset win over former world championship candidate GM Gata Kamsky of the United States in their seventh-round showdown. A win by So over Jianchao will further boost his chances for at least a Top 10 finish in this annual 80-player tournament. A big letdown was GM Darwin Laylo, the only other Filipino campaigner in the tournament. Laylo (ELO 2556) bowed to GM Alexei Iljushin (ELO 2551) of Russia and remained in the bottom of the standings with only one draw and six losses. The campaigner from Lipa City was not paired in the eighth round. In other seventh round results, Nepomniachtchi whipped GM Arman Pashikian of Armenia, Savchenko crushed GM Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil, Grachev drew with Truong Son and Le split the point with GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany. Top seed GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France trounced GM Loek van Wely of the Netherlands to move into a tie for sixth to 16th places with 4.5 points. Defending champion GM Etienne Bacrot of France settled for another draw with GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India to join the 4.5 pointers. Last year’s co-champion GM Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine also drew his match against GM Vadim Zvjagisnev of Russia to lag behind with only four points. - GMANews.TV