So solid at Corus B

So gets third straight draw in Corus chess tilt
01/19/2010 12:23 PM

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands – GM Wesley So of the Philippines settled for his third straight draw, this time against GM Varuzhan Akobian of the United States, in the third round of the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre.

So, who is seeking a fitting follow-up to his smashing title triumph in Group C of the same tournament last year, vaulted into slight positional advantage with the white pieces but ran into the tough-defending Akobian in a sharp middle game battle.

Knowing that he could make nothing from the endgame where he had a queen and four pawns against Akobian’s two rooks and three pawns, the sixth-seeded So (ELO 2656) agreed to share the point for the third time in as many rounds.

The truce was reached after 33 moves.

The draw followed similar results in the first two rounds where the 16-year-old Filipino chesser also split the point with top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and GM Erwin l’Ami of the Netherlands.

Overall, So remains in a tie for fourth to 10th places with 1.5 points in the 14-player, category-16 Group B tournament.

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