Third draw drops So to 2nd

By: 11 years ago

FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley So (ELO 2719) was held to a third straight draw this time by local bet GM Anish Giri (2737) in the fourth round of the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters in Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam on Wednesday (Thursday in PH).
Handling the black pieces, So agreed to a draw after 57 moves of Queens Pawn Game and upped his output to 2.5 points on one win and three draws. Giri had three pawns, a knight and a white bishop while So had two pawns, a knight and a black bishop when they agreed to a truce.
Also with 2.5 points were Giri, GM Pentala Harikrishna of India (2706) and GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia (2756).
Harikrishna beat GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands (2678) after 29 moves of Catalan Opening while Karjakin outclassed GM Richard Rapport of Hungary (2691) after 44 moves of French Winawer skirmish.
Meanwhile, top seed GM Levon Aronian of Armenia (2803) defeated GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA (2789) after 44 moves of King’s Indian Classical to grab the solo lead with 3.0 points.
GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782) failed to continue his impressive start after losing to GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba (2754) after 108 moves of Ruy Lopez Opening and remained stuck at 2.0 points, the same output of Dominguez and Nakamura. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino