TATA STEEL CHESS: SO DRAWS WITH NAKAMURA IN 2ND ROUND
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 13 Jan 2014
MANILA, Philippines -- FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley So (ELO 2719) found American GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) tough to crack and settled for a draw in the second round of the super-tough Category A of the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands on Sunday (Monday morning in Manila time).
So, the 20-year-old finance business sophomore at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, the top player of National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. and Secretary-General Cavite Rep. Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino Jr., and Nakamura agreed to halve to the point after 27 moves of Semi-Slav Defense using the white pieces to raise his total to 1.5 points and create a five-way tie for first.
So had five pawns, queen, two bishops and a knight while Nakamura had five pawns, queen, two knights and a bishop.
"Wesley and Hikaru played for the first time and it finished in a draw," said National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) Chairman/President Prospero "Butch" Pichay Jr. who watched the games live through ChessBomb website.
Bunched at 1.5 points with So are Nakamura, top seed GM Levon Aronian of Armenia (2803), GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia (2756) and GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands(2737).
Aronian defeated GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782) after 58 moves of English Symmetrical, Karjakin drew with GM Pentala Harikrishna of India (2708) after 40 moves of Queen's Gambit Declined and Giri outclassed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany (2737) after 33 moves of Bogo Indian Defense.
In other matches, GM Richard Rapport (ELO 2691) of Hungrary, who lost to So in the first round on Saturday, bounced back in contention after crushing GM Boris Gelfand (2777) of Israel after 60 moves of Budapest Defense Main Line while GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba (2754) split the point with GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands (2678) after 26 moves of Sicilian Early Fianchetto skirmish.-Marlon Bernardino-
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