So resumes chase for GM norm

IM Wesley So hopes to come out strong from a one-day rest as he tries to bounce back from a seventh round setback and resume his bid for a GM norm in the World Juniors Chess Championships at the Tigran Petrosian Chess House in Yerevan, Armenia Thursday.

The 14-year-old So took a numbing setback to GM Ahmed Adly of Egypt in a slambang Sicilian encounter Tuesday and dropped from the top of the heap to joint third with a host of others heading into the eighth round of the 13-round tournament.

Adly thus seized the solo lead with six points while GM Victor Laznicka of the Czech Republic is in solo second with 5.5 points followed by So’s group of five-pointers, who include top seed GM Wang Hao of China, GM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel, GM Georg Meier of Germany, GM Daniel Stellwagen of the Netherlands, GM Ivan Popov of Russia, GM Parimarjan Negi of India, IM Avetik Grigoryan of Armenia and IM Gopal Narayanan of India.

But the Filipino bet drew a tough rival in the eighth round as he is set to face Wang on board 2 with Ahmed and Laznicka slugging it out on the top board.

In the distaff side, Aices Salvador faces WIM Swaminathan Soumya of India with the former hoping to improve on her four-point output, 1.5 points behind solo leader WIM Vera Nebolsina of Russia.

Salvador prevailed over Nune Darbinyan of Armenia in her last outing.

But focus will be on So, who sparked hopes of a great outing when he seized the lead in the fifth round and shared it with Ahmed in the next. He, however, failed to sustain his form and succumbed to the Egyptian’s brilliant endgame.