So plays to 4th draw in a row

MANILA, Philippines - Wesley So and fellow chess prodigy GM Parimartjan Negi of India fought to a draw in 36 moves of a Sicilian, further stalling the Filipino GM’s bid in the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands Tuesday. 

Needing a win to get back into the thick of things after three straight draws, So failed to outmaneuver Negi, who steered the match into a rook and pawn ending.

Although the match lacked the expected fireworks, the Negi-So match drew a lot of attention in the international chess community since it pitted two of the world’s rising stars.

Negi became the world’s second youngest player to earn a GM title at age 13 years, four months and 22 days, while So was the seventh youngest at age 14 years, one month and 28 days. Both are now 16 years old.

Chessdom.com live game analyst GM Bong Villamayor said So held a slight initiative against Negi, who had to battle his way with a fractured pawn structure on the kingside.

But the Filipino champion failed to find a way to sustain the pressure against the Indian with less time in his clock. Negi minimized So’s attacking chances when he forced an exchange of the queens on the 15th move.

“The queen exchange on 15. Qf3 weakened Negi’s kingside, but So’s attack was minimized. Now, So had to find ways in maintaining his initiative...not easy with less time,” said Villamayor.

The draw was the fourth in as many matches for So, who earned an invitation to the Category 16 tournament (average rating 2629) after topping Group C last year.

So thus dropped into a tie for sixth with two points, a full point behind GMs Ni Hua of China and Anish Giri of the Netherlands, who drew their fourth-round match.

The tournament takes a break Wednesday and resumes with the fifth round on Thursday.