So falls to Armenian foe

MANILA, Philippines -- Grandmaster Wesley So ran into an Armenian juggernaut named Levon Aronian and absorbed a painful 36-move defeat of their English duel in the sixth round of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands Saturday night.

So, 20, got outplayed by the top-seeded Aronian in the opening, kept plodding on hoping to eke out a draw only to get trampled in the endgame where the latter sacrificed a pawn to win the exchange several moves later.

When So, whose world No. 28 ranking and 2719 rating paled in comparison to his foe’s at No. 2 and 2812, resigned, he was left with a piece down, a weak back rank and an intoxicatingly cramped kingside position.

The 31-year-old Aronian, a former World960, rapid, blitz and Cup champion and the spearhead of the Armenian national team that struck gold in the 2006, 2008 and 2012 World Chess Olympiad in Turin, Dresden and Istanbul, thus stretched his lead from half a point to a full point with five points after six games.

Dutch Anish Giri, who drew with fourth pick Boris Gelfand of Israel in their marathon 66-move duel of a Gruenfeld, and Russian Sergey Karjakin, who outlasted German Arkadij Naiditsch in 76 moves of a King’s Indian Attack, jumped to a share of second with four points apiece.

As for So, he fell from joint No. 2 with Giri the round before to a share of No. 4 with No. 3 Fabiano Caruana of Italy and No.6 Leinier Dominguez of Cuba, who split the point with No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura of the US and Pentala Harikrishna of India, with 3.5 points apiece.

It didn’t matter that So, who powered Webster U to the Pan American Games title in Lubbock, Texas last month after scoring a perfect six-of-six, is coming off a historic win over Gelfand, the World No. 8 player and former World Championship challenger, the previous round.

So’s coach, Susan Polgar, said the defeat will be a learning experience for her student.

“Great game by Lev Aronian, this is why he is No. 2 in the world, it6 was a convincing performance so far,” said Polgar, a former women’s world champion. “This loss though will make Wesley stronger. He improved a lot but we still have work to do.

“I believe in him and his ability,” she added.

So will have a chance to redeem himself from the stinging loss as he clashes with Karjakin in the seventh round, which was being played at press time.