GM So settles for draw in 3rd round

Standings after three rounds:

3.0  — GM Fabiano Caruana (2714/ Italy)

2.0  — GM Viktor Laznicka (2681/Czech Republic)

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

1.0  — GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2676/India)

0.0 —  GM Hou Yifan (2612/China)

FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley Barbasa So (2667) tried hard to find a winning combination but had to settle for a draw against Indian GM Parimarjan Negi (2622) in Friday’s 3rd round of the AAI (Airports Authority of India) Grandmasters Chess Tournament in New Delhi, India.

So failed to capitalize on his positional advantage early in the match and agreed to halve the point with the lower-rated but hard-fighting Negi after 30 moves of Sicilian defense, Najdorf variation using the advantageous white pieces. Despite So’s slight edge, the Indian ace found the right counter-attacks to force So to a queen exchange in the 23rd move.

“I wanted to win with white pieces, but there was just nothing there. I played very badly in second round and wanted to make up,” So told the All India Chess Federation website.

So is now tied for third to 4th places with Negi with 1.5 points each.

Meanwhile, GM Fabiano Caruana (2714/) of Italy beat GM Hou Yifan (2612) of China after 37 moves of Ruy Lopez Opening to grab the solo lead with 3.0 points.

GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2676) of India beat GM Viktor Laznicka (2681/Czech Republic) after 72 moves of Catalan Opening to score his first win.  /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino