Defending champ So presses on in Groningen

DEFENDING champion Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So posted another draw in the ninth round to stay in contention in the 2018 Tata Steel chess tournament being held in Groningen, the Netherlands.

The 24-year old So, a gold medalist in the 2013 Summer World University Games held in Russia, agreed to a draw with GM Peter Svidler of Russia after 38 moves of the Queen’s Pawn game.

So improved to 5.5 points on two wins and seven draws to stay at the fourth spot with former world champion GM Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who also holds 5.5 points.

GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands grabbed the solo lead with 6.5 points after scoring a ninth-round win over GM Maxim Matlakov of Russia.

GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and three-time Tata Steel titlist GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway fell to second with six points each.

The games of Kramnik and Mamedyarov, and Carlsen and GM Viswanathan Anand of India also ended in a draw.

Anand and GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia remained at sixth with five points each followed by Svidler (4.5), Matlakov and GM Gawain Jones of Russia (4.0), GM Wei Yi of China (3.5), GM Fabiano Caruana of US (3.5), GM Baskaran Adhiban of India (2.5) and GM Hou Yifan of China (1.5).

Jones and Hou, Wei and Karjakin, and Caruana and Adhiban all agreed to split the point in their respective ninth-round games in the tournament which offers €10,000 to the champion and €6,500 to the runner-up.

So must win his 10th-round game against Carlsen to further strengthen his title retention bid.

The other matches in the 10th round are: Hou versus Adhiban, Wei versus Caruana, Giri versus Karjakin, Kramnik versus Matlakov, Svidler versus Mamedyarov, and Jones versus Anand.