So drifts in middle of pack with another draw

MOSCOW, Russia – Filipino grandmaster Wesley So settled for another draw in his match versus Chinese GM Zhou Weiqi to stand way behind the leaders after the fourth round of the Aeroflot Open chess championship at the Hotel Gamma-Delta here Friday.

The game was agreed drawn after an exciting middle game skirmish that left both players with a rook, bishop and two pawns apiece in the endgame.

The draw – the third in four rounds – left the 15th-seeded So with only 1.5 points, good for only a share of 55th to 74th places in the 86-player tournament sponsored by Russian airlines Aeroflot.

The 17-year-old Filipino champion from Bacoor, Cavite was running sixth in the race for the coveted top junior award which he won the past two years.

Overall, So was two and a half points behind defending champion GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who bolted into the solo lead with a stunning upset of top seed GM Gata Kamsky of the United States.

Le, So’s leading rival in Southeast Asia, has a perfect score of four points so far.

GM Evgeny Tomashevsky outwitted GM Anton Shomoev and GM Mikhail Kobalia of Russia subdued GM Alexaner Riazantsev in an all-Russian encounters to share second to third places with 3.5 points.

In the fifth round, So plays GM Stanislav Novikov of Russia.

Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad veteran GM John Paul Gomez demolished FM Pogos Nakhapetiane of Russia and GM Darwin Laylo outclassed IM Evgenij Kalegin of Russia to share second to sixth places with 3.5 points in Group B.

Gomez and Laylo were only half a point behind solo leader GM Alexei Gavrilov of Russia.

IM Oliver Dimakiling halved the point with IM Sergey Pavlov of Ukraine and IM Rihard Bitoon split the point with Grigoriy Oparin of Russia to keep their hopes alive with 2.5 and two points, respectively.

The lone loser was Moscow Open runner-up IM Oliver Barbosa, who bowed to Dmitry Kurukin of Russia. The Pasig City-born campaigner had 1.5 points.

In the fifth round, Gomez will take on Gavrilov, Laylo will face WGM Zhao Xue of China, Dimakiling will battle Vladimir Belous of Russia, Bitoon will meet WFM Indira Bajt of India and Barbosa will tackle FM Daniel Malek of Germany.

In Group C, national junior champion Paulo Bersamina drew with Ivan Elishev of Russia to remain in contention with 2.5 points out of a possible four.

The Pasay City-based Bersamina, who followed up an opening-day setback with back-to-back victories, was tied for 21st to 45th places in the 106-player field.

Bersamina, who turned 13 only last Feb.1, will next meet WFM Alexandra Nikolaeva of Russia