Another draw sends Wesley to joint fourth

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Wesley So settled for another draw, this time against former world champion GM Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in 41 moves of a Ruy Lopez to stay half a point off the pace after seven rounds of the 2015 Qatar Masters Open in Doha, Qatar Sunday night.

Employing the Berlin Defense against the popular Spanish opening, So used his uncastled but active king to equalize and even seized a slight positional advantage midway through the duel. But Ponomariov, who reigned as world champion from 2002 to 2004, opted to play it safe and transformed the match into a closed position.

The standoff dropped So in a 16-man pack at fourth with five points, half a point behind top seed and reigning world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, GM Sanan Sjugirov of Russia and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

Carlsen, who also split the point with So in the sixth round, also agreed to another draw against third seed GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands while Mamedyarov and Sjugirov gained a piece of the lead by beating Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko, respectively.