So outlasts ex-Webster teammate to reach 4th round

MANILA, Philippines -- Grandmaster Wesley So outlasted ex-Webster University teammate Le Quang Liem of Vietnam in the tiebreaks to score a 2.5-1.5 victory and advance to the fourth round of the Chess World Cup 2015 in Baku, Azerbaijan Saturday.

After splitting their two-game third round match, So scraped his way to a 57-move draw of a Ruy Lopez despite being a pawn down in their first of a two tiebreaks and then, as black, pounced on an endgame blunder by Le to snare a 37-move win of a Nimzo-Indian Defense that sealed the win.

So thus forged a round-of-16 showdown with French Maxime Vachier Lagrave, who bested Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky, 4-2.

So, who went to Baku reeling from dismal last place effort in the 10-player Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri two weeks ago, has also duplicated his best effort in this biennial event – a fourth round finish six years ago in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

It was a win that cut So's deficit to Le in their head-to-head encounter to just 4.5-5.5.

Most importantly, So beat Le on his game as the Vietnamese GM has a better rapid rating of 2770 compared to the former's 2635.

So made it to the third round by sweeping  Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo and Hungarian Csaba Balogh in a pair of one-sided two-game triumphs before running into a more formidable Le, who effortlessly forced draws even though his rating of 2702 (World No. 41) pales in comparison to So’s 2767.5 (No. 10).

After their first two games ended in a quiet draw, Le was adventurous in the third as he outplayed his former Southeast Asian rival in a minor piece play that saw him going a pawn ahead.

But So managed to snatch a draw by shutting the doors on Le's possible entries into his domain.

Obviously a little frustrated after missing his winning chance, Le tried to make something out of another drawish line by bringing his king into the center.

That proved to be the beginning of the end of Le as So found a way to attack his contemporary's exposed king and force an exchange that saw him emerging a piece up.