Wesley stays in hunt, holds off Dutch IM

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands – Top seed GM Wesley So added No. 12 seed IM Roeland Pruijssers of the Netherlands to his list of victims, pulling off a crucial 10th-round victory in the 71st Corus Chess Tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre here Wednesday.

The win – the fifth against four draws and one loss – enabled the 15-year-old Filipino champion (ELO 2627) to remain in contention in this tough, 13-round tournament previously known as Hoogvens.

So remains only half a point behind third seed GM Tiger Hilarp Persson of Sweden, who trounced So’s eight-round tormentor, GM GM Frank Holzke of Germany.

Aside from Prujissers, So’s other victims in the prestigious tournament were fifth seed GM Friso Nijober of the Netherlands in the first round, No. 8 seed GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela in the fifth round and sixth seed GM Manuel Leon Hoyos of Mexico in the sixth round and IM Ali Bitalzadeh of the Netherlands in the ninth round.