So breaks 2700 Elo barrier with draw in Iceland

GRANDMASTER Wesley So opted for a quick draw with GM Pavel Eljanov Wednesday night and settled for a three-way tie for first with his Ukrainian foe and Egyptian GM Bassem Amin in the Reykjavik Open in Iceland.

Handling the black pieces, So found no need to exert more effort and offered a draw to Eljanov after just three moves of a Gruenfeld Defense.

Eljanov accepted, giving them 8.0 points each, the same total posted by Amin, who toppled GM Grzegorz Gajewski of Poland after 52 moves of a Sicilian Defense in the 10th and final round.

They divided the combined purse of 8,250 euros (about P441,500) for the top three placers, with Eljanov getting a slightly bigger share after emerging topnotcher after the Bucholz tiebreak was applied.

So finished second and Amin third.

More importantly, So became the first Filipino to break the 2700 Elo barrier with a live rating of 2701, good for 51st place in the world rankings. He now joins the elite hydra club of GMs. Before the tournament, So was at 66th spot with an Elo of 2684.

So posted a performance rating of 2753 for the event that lured 36 GMs. /inquirer with marlon bernardino