So draws anew, stays at third

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands – Grandmaster Wesley So battled GM David Howell of England to a quiet, positional game before settling for a draw in 20 moves of the French Tarrasch in the 12th and penultimate round in the 72nd Corus chess tournament at the De Moriaan Community Centre here Saturday.

So, who looked spent after his heartbreaking loss to GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the previous round, employed the French defense, which served him well during the World Chess Cup and initiated an early battle for control of the center.

But Howell, who played board three for England during the World Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany in 2008, came up with precise counterplay to earn a draw with the higher-rated Filipino champion.

When the game was drawn, Howell and So had the same number of pieces on the board – queen, two rooks, bishop, knight and six pawns each.

The draw left the 16-year-old So with a 12-round total of seven points, one and a half points behind his 10th-round tormentor, Giri, with only one round remaining in the category-16 tournament.

So is also half point behind top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany, GM Ni Hua of China and GM Erwin l’Ami of the Netherlands.

So’s 13th and final round opponent is lone female participant IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia.

Muzychuk, the 19-year-old campaigner from Lviv, Ukraine who adopted Slovenian citizenship in 2004, holds the distinction as the only player to beat Giri during the two-week competition in this small resort town in Northern Holland.

Giri, the 15-year old son of a Nepalese father and Russian mother, will go for the title when he meets GM Parimarjan Negi of India in the final round.

Naiditsch and l’Ami battle each other, while Ni takes on GM Dimitri Reinderman of the Netherlands.

In Group A, top seed GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway drew with Gm Pete Leko of Hungary to take a slim half-point lead over erstrwhile co-leader Gm Vladimir Kramnk of Russia and GM Alexei Shirov of Spain.

 Kramnik lost to world champion GM Viswanathan Anand, while Shirov drew with GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia.

Overall, Carlsen has eight points against 7.5 points by Kramnik and Shirov.

Anand moved up to solo fourth place with seven points.

In the final round Sunday, Carlsen will play white against GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

Kramnik will meet Karjakin, Shirov will tackle GM Leinier Dominguez of Cuba and Anand will battle Loek van Wely of the Netherlands.