So draws last round, finishes joint fourth

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands – Grandmaster Wesley So drew with GM Radek Wojtaszek of Poland in the final round and finished tied for fourth-seventh place, a full point behind two joint winners, in the 73rd Tata Steel-Corus Group B chess championship Sunday.

The draw came after only 24 moves of the Queen’s Gambit with So, playing white, having a rook, knight and five pawns against Wojtaszek’s rook, bishop and five pawns in an almost equal position.

The draw was So’s fourth straight good result against Elo 2700-plus players during the two-week competition. His two wins-two draws record against players with Elo 2700-plus ratings is expected to boost his present Elo of 2673 this year.

Overall, So finished with four wins, seven draws and two losses for 7.5 points, only one point behind GM Luke McShane of England and Navara and only half a point behind Efimenko.

Before drawing with Wojtaszek, the fifth-seeded So halved the point with GM Zahar Efimenko (ELO 2701) of Ukraine, and then pulled the rug from under GM Laurent Fressinet (ELO 2707) of France and GM David Navara (ELO 2708) of the Czech Reublic.

McShane and Navara fought to a draw in 57 moves of the King’s Indian to finish with 8.5 points each and share the 5,500 euro combined first and second cash prizes. McShane, however, edged Navara for the title by virtue of higher tiebreak score, but organizers decided to invite both players to compete in Group A next year.

The 17-year-old Filipino champion finished in a tie with GMs Le Quang Liem of Vietnam and Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia. 

The shared fourth-place finish by So matched his similar result in the same Group B last year where he also wound up with 7.5 points in a tie with GM Erwin l’Ami of the Netherlands and behind only GMs Anish Giri of the Netherlands, Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and Ni Hua of China .

In 2009, So made history by topping Group C with a score of 9.5 points, a full point ahead of Giri and Tiger Hillarp Persson of the Netherlands.

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay congratulated So for his “gallant and determined effort to win and bring honors to the country.”

He said So is also expected to do well in his next tournament, the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, Russia beginning Feb. 9.