So bows to Czech GM

2nd round standings:

2.0 pts — GM Viktor Laznicka (2681/Czech Republic), GM Fabiano Caruana (2714/ Italy)

1.0 pts — GM Wesley Barbasa So (2667/Philippines), GM Parimarjan Negi (2622/India)

0.0 pts — GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2676/India), GM Hou Yifan (2612/China)

FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley So (2267) bowed to Czech GM Viktor Laznicka in yesterday’s 2nd round of the AAI (Airports Authority of India) Grandmasters Chess Tournament in New Delhi, India,

The 17-year-old whiz kid yielded to Laznicka after 39 moves of Nimzo-Indian defense.

In other matches, GM Fabiano Caruana (2714) of Italy trounced GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2676) of India after 45 moves of Caro-Kann defense while GM Parimarjan Negi (2622) of India beat GM Hou Yifan (2612) of China after 32 moves of Sicilian defense, Dragon variation.

Laznicka and Caruana share the top spot with clean 2.0 points after two rounds of this six-player, double round-robin tournament while So and GM Parimarjan Negi of India share second place with 1.0 points.

In the third round, So battles Negi, Hou faces Caruana while Sasikiran faces Laznicka.

The tournament marks India’s first ever Category 17 chess tournament with a unique group of six grandmasters playing in a double round robin format.

The event offers $24,500 in prize money with the winner getting $8,000 and the runner-up $6,000. The next four finishers will receive $4,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,500.  Correspondent MARLON BERNARDINO