Wesley settles for another draw

MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So and GM Artyom Timofeev of Russia battled to a short and uneventful draw in the seventh round but stayed in the title hunt in the Aeroflot Open chess tournament at the Hotel Gamma-Delta in Moscow Monday.

So and Timofeev agreed to split the point after the Russian captured the Filipino’s pawn on c6 with a knight on the 21st.

The draw dropped So to joint sixth 4.5 points but still just half-a-point behind Russian GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Boris Savchenko and Boris Grachev, and GMs Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, both of Vietnam.  

While he remained in the title contention, So moved closer to retaining the top junior award.

The 16-year-old Filipino champion, who has three wins, three draws and only one loss in the nine-round tournament, is half a point ahead of GM Sanan Sjugirov of Russia and a full point ahead of GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan for the top award for junior players.

Last year, So edged Safarli, Sjugirov and GM Ray Robson of the United States for the top plum.

So resumes his campaign against GM Zhou Jianchao in the penultimate round Tuesday with the Chinese bet coming off a stunning upset win over former world championship candidate GM Gata Kamsky of the US in their seventh-round showdown.

A win by So over Jianchao will further boost his chances heading into the final round of the annual 80-player tournament.

“Wesley should have the edge with the white pieces against Jianchao,” said National Chess Federation of the Phils. president Butch Pichay.

Nepomniachtchi whipped GM Arman Pashikian of Armenia, Savchenko crushed GM Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil, Grachev drew with Truong Son and Le split the point with GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany in the featured seventh-round matches.

Top seed GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France trounced GM Loek van Wely of the Netherlands to join So in the 4.5-pointer group.