Wesley rebounds, crushes Kramnik

MANILA, Philippines - GM Wesley So finally regained his winning form, beating Russian Vladimir Kramnik in 65 moves of an English Opening to bounce back into contention after five rounds of the Shamkir Chess-Gashimov Memorial 2017 in Azerbaijan Tuesday.

So took control of the central file and gained the initiative early as Kramnik, a former world champion, struggled to come up with counter plays, enabling the reigning US champion to whip up an unstoppable pawn storm.

When Kramnik resigned, So was on the verge of promoting one of his pawns.

The win thus snapped So’s so-so start of a loss and three draws as he moved to joint fourth with his victim, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov and another Russian Sergey Karjakin at 2.5 points.

Azerbaijan’s Shakjriyar Mamedyarov, who beat So in the first round, continued to pace the elite field with 3.5 points.

Englishman Michael Adams and Ukrainian Pavel Eljanov tote three points apiece for joint second.

So goes for a follow-up against Karjakin in the sixth round.