So blows win line vs Israeli

MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So bungled a winning line in his bid to blitz his way to victory, enabling former world junior champion GM Emil Sutovsky of Israel to escape with a draw in the ninth round of the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Morian Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands last Tuesday.

So outmaneuvered Sutovsky in their sharp Gruenfeld skirmish with the white, gaining a strong positional advantage against the time-pressured Sutovsky and going one pawn up in a rook and knight ending.

But the 16-year-old Filipino champion missed the right continuation despite his advantage on time in his attempt to simplify things up, allowed his rival to force a standoff after 42 moves.

So had a rook, knight and four pawns against the rook, knight and three pawns of the 33-year-old Sutovsky when they agreed to halve the point.

Chessdom.com analyst and Filipino GM Bong Villamayor said So obviously prepared to meet Sutovsky’s pet opening, played extensively before by world champions Bobby Fischer, Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand.

But Villamayor said So over-extended himself and tried to blitz his way despite the obvious lack of time of Sutovsky, who won the European championship in 2001.

“It was a wasted opportunity for Wesley. He had good preparation and gained an almost decisive advantage with Sutovsky under time pressure,” said Villamayor.

So thus dropped to joint fouth with 5.5 points, a full point behind solo leader GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands heading in the last four rounds of the round robin Category 16 event among 14 players.

A win could’ve put So closer to Giri, who suffered his first loss against lone female participant IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia in 55 moves of the Sicilian. He, however, remained on top with 6.5 points.

GMs Ni Hua of China an Erwin l’Ami of the Netherlands stood in joint second with six points.

Ni whipped GM Varuzhan Akobian of the US, while l’Ami toppled GM David Howell of England to stay within striking distance.

So goes up against GM Tomi Nyback of Finland in the 10th round while Giri tries to bounce back against top seed GM Arkadij Naidtisch of Germany.