Another draw keeps So at joint third

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Wesley So failed to eke out a win again with one pawn up as he settled for a draw with Czech GM David Navarra in 46 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined and remained half a point off the pace after five rounds of the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands Thursday night.

For the third straight game, So gained a pawn after battling Navarra into a series of exchanges in the opening but just couldn’t find a way to cash in on the slight edge as Navarro held his fort to force a standoff.

With four points, So stayed in a four-way tie at No. 3 with reigning world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Ukrainian GM Pavel Ejanov and reigning women’s champion GM Hou Yifan of China with three points apiece.

American GM Fabiano Caruana split the point with Hou to share the lead with Chinese GM Ding Liren, who gained a piece of the lead with a victory over Russian GM Sergey Karjakin.

So and Caruana, who will play side by side for the US in this year’s World Chess Olympiad, were playing each other in at press time.