So draws Gelfand in 8th round

WIJK aan Zee, Netherlands – Grandmaster Wesley So put up a brave stand in a complicated battle against GM Boris Gelfand of Israel and came away with a draw in the eighth round of the 2010 NH Rising Stars vs Experience chess team tournament at the Hotel Krasnapolsky here Friday.

Gelfand, the highest-rated player here with an Elo rating of 2739, tried to exploit the weakness of So’s white squares on the queenside, but the Filipino champion (Elo 2674) played precisely and steered the position to another drawish endgame.

Seeing he could do nothing from the totally equal position, the 42-year-old Israeli GM offered to split the point and the 16-year-old Filipino sensation readily agreed.

Gelfand, who ruled the 128-player World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia last December, and So also battled to a draw in their only other meeting in the first round last Aug.14.

GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands outdueled GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic of Serbia to lead Rising Stars to a 3-2 win over Experience and a commanding 22-18 lead in the overall standings with only two rounds remaining.

Giri, the son of a Nepalese father and a Russian mother who now live in the Netherlands, launched a brilliant attack that started with a pawn sacrifice and culminated with a wild win in a complicated Meran.

The win also enabled Giri to keep a slim lead over teammates GMs Hikaru Nakamura of the United States and Fabiano Caruana for the best individual record and the coveted ticket to the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament.

Overall, Giri had three wins and five draws for 5.5 points out of a possible eight.

Nakamura blew several winning chance and settled for a draw with GM Peter Heine Neilsen of Denmark, while Caruana fought to a standoff with Gm Peter Svidler of Russia.

Nakamura had five points on four wins, two draws and two losses, while Caruanan had 4.5 points on two wins, five draws and one loss.

So, who remained with only 3.5 points on seven draws and one loss, will meet Ljubojevic in the ninth round and GM Loek van Wely of the Netherlands in the final round.

The fifth game pitting Van Wely and GM David Howell of England also ended in a draw after marathon 88 moves and almost six hours of play.

At stake in this unique competition being organized by NH Hotel for the fourth straight year is 2,000 euro for the winning team and 1,000 euro for the losing side. In case of 25-25 tie, each player receives 1,500 euro.

In addition, each player receives 500 euro for every point he scores.

Special prizes for the “Rising Stars” team:

The player with the highest score will be invited to the 2011 Amber blindfold and rapid tournament in Nice, provided he scores over 50 percent in the tournament.

In case he scored less than 50 percent, he and a partner of his choice will be invited to attend the 2011 Amber tournament as a guest. In case two players reach the same (best) score, a blitz tiebreaker will decide who will be invited to the 2011 Amber tournament as a player or a guest.

The runner-up of the “Rising Stars” team will be invited to attend the 2011 Amber tournament with a partner of his choice during the final week of the event.

The number 3 “Rising Star” will receive a Sony Vaio Notebook.

Based on the Schveningen format, all members of each team play all members of the other team twice -- once with the white pieces and once with the black pieces.

This will be the fourth straight time since 2007 that the unique tournament pitting young against veteran players is being held, with the Rising Stars holding a 2-1 match lead in the young tournament.

The Rising Stars swept the first two stagings of the tournament before Experience secured their first victory last year.