Indian GM forces So to 5th draw

MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So continued to struggle in his search for the elusive first win as he was held to another draw by GM Pentala Harikrishna of India in the fifth round of the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands Thursday.

So actually gained a positional advantage against the former world junior champion in the early going but failed to essay this to victory as Harikrishna cleverly stayed out of complications and squeezed out a draw in an opposite-colored bishop ending.

They halved the point after 44 moves of a Catalan.

Harikrishna, who bagged the world junior title in 2004, sacrificed his bishop for So’s g-pawn to ensure the draw.

Chessdom.com analyst GM Bong Villamayor said So had better pawn structure early in the match but failed to stop his rival’s counterplay that eventually led to the exchange of queens and two rooks.

“So should have retained at least one rook if he wants to increase his winning chances since exchanging all rooks will surely lead to a draw,” said Villamayor in his commentary.

It was So’s fifth straight draw, dropping the 16-year-old Filipino champion to joint eighth among 14 players with 2.5 points.

Leading the Category 16 field is GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands, who whipped GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel in 38 moves of a Grunfeld for four points.

GM David Howell of England outplayed GM Ni Hua of China for solo second with 3.5 points.