So, Karjakin battle to a draw
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Round 7 Standings: Aronian 5.5, Giri, Karjakin 4.5, Caruana, Dominguez, So 4.0, Harikrishna, Van Wely, Rapport, Nakamura 3.0, Gelfand 2.0, Naiditsch 1.5
Round 8 Tue 21st Jan 12:30GMT: Giri-Aronian, Karjakin-Gelfand, Dominguez-So, Van Wely-Naiditsch, Harikrishna-Nakamura, Caruana-Rapport.
Manila, Philippines---Grandmaster Wesley So (ELO 2719) fought GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia (2756) to a 51-move draw of a super-sharp Queens Indian Defense to share fourth place along with two others in the seventh round of the super-tough Category A 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters in Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam on Sunday.
A day after suffering his first lost at the hands of top seed GM Levon Aronian of Armenia (Elo 2803), So playing the white pieces, gained a quality advantage after Karjakin's careless 24th move Bxg2.
Despite quality down (Karjakin has five pawns and two knights against So's five pawns, two rooks and black bishop), Karjakin continued pressuring the f2 pawn of So allowing the latter to gave up his quality advantage after exchanging pieces and turning the game into a drawish position.
Both players agreed to a draw in the 51st move with Karjakin having four pawns and a rook against So's four pawns and a rook.
According to official website Tata Steel, Karjakin realised he had done a "silly thing" in his tough game against So.
So is expected to go all out in a match-clinching win as he plays the black pieces on Monday's eight round against GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba (2754).
So, Dominguez and GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy (2782) are all tied at 4th to 6th places with 4.0 points each.
Karjakin, meantime shared with GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands (2737) at 2nd to 3rd places with 4.5 points apiece, a clear point behind solo leader Aronian who totes 5.5 points.
In other results, Aronian split the point with GM Boris Gelfand of Israel (2777) after 41 moves of Queens Gambit Declined, Dominguez drew with GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany (2737) after 91 moves of King's Indian Defense and Caruana halved the point with Giri after 43 moves of Vienna Game.
GM Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands (2678) toppled GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA (2786) after 52 moves of Sicilian Classical while GM Richard Rapport (2691) of Hungrary shocked GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA (2786) after 68 moves of Caro Kann Defense.
The games of the tough 12-man event (Elo average 2743) are also being monitored by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) chairman/president Prospero ?Butch? Pichay Jr. and Fide Asian Zone 3.3 president Rep. Abraham ?Bambol? Tolentino Jr.-Marlon Bernardino-
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Marlon Bernardino.
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