MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So sets out for his final drive in the tough Tata Steel Masters as he faces Croatian GM Ivan Saric in a crucial 11th round match in Wijk an Zee Friday night.Stalled by draws in the last two rounds, So is gunning for a sweep of his last three games to gain a crack at the crown in the Category 20 tournament after staying in joint second with French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 6.5 points, one point behind reigning world champin GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
So is tipped to get past Saric, tied with reigning women’s world champion GM Hou Yifan of China at second-to-last with three points.
In contrast, So is the only unbeaten player in the field with three wins and seven draws. He beat defending champion Armenian GM Levon Aronian and the fancied Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk while holding Carlsen and Italian GM Fabiano Caruana, the top two players in the world today, to draws.
So is also currently ranked No. 7 in the world with a live rating of 2784.8 and is eyeing to barge into the elite 2800-rated group after the tournament composed of Carlsen (2870.9), Caruana (2819.4), Russian GM Alexander Grischuk (2810) and Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov (2800).
After Saric, So will take on young Dutch GM Anish Giri, who has six points, in Saturday’s 12th round before closing out his campaign against Dutch GM Loek Van Wely Sunday.