So draws 2nd round play, shares lead

Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So (ELO 2719) found American GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) a tough to crack and settled for a draw on Sunday (Monday morning PH time) in the second round of the premier Category A of the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.
So, the 20-year-old finance business sophomore at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri and the top player of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and Nakamura agreed to halve to the point after 27 moves of a Semi-Slav Defense with the Filipino chess prodigy using the white pieces.
GM So raised his total to 1.5 points good for a five-way tie for first.
So had five pawns, queen, two bishops and a knight while Nakamura had five pawns, queen, two knights and a bishop.
“Wesley and Hikaru played for the first time and it finished in a draw,” said NCFP Chairman/President Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr. who watched the games live through the website ChessBomb.com.
Also with 1.5 points are Nakamura, top seed GM Levon Aronian of Armenia (2803), GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia (2756) and GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands (2737).
Aronian defeated GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782) after 58 moves of English Symmetrical; Karjakin drew with GM Pentala Harikrishna of India (2708) after 40 moves of Queen’s Gambit Declined and Giri outclassed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany (2737) after 33 moves of Bogo Indian Defense.
In other matches saw, GM Richard Rapport (ELO 2691) of Hungrary, who lost to So in the first round on Saturday, bounced back in contention after crushing GM Boris Gelfand (2777) of Israel after 60 moves of Budapest Defense Main Line while GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba (2754) split the point with GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands (2678) after 26 moves of Sicilian Early Fianchetto skirmish.

Read more...