Indian GM beats So in 27 moves

NEW DELHI, India – Grandmaster Wesley So threw caution to the wind and paid dearly for it, losing to GM Parimarjan Negi of India in the pivotal eighth round of the first Airports Authority of India (AAI) international GM chess tournament at the Safadarjung Airport here Thursday.

A day after his smashing win over GM Viktor Laznicka of the Czech Republic in the seventh round, So gambled with his seldom-used Petroff defense against Negi. The end for So came in only 27 moves, by far the quickest game in terms of moves.

Experts were surprised that the 17-year-old So chose to defend with the Petroff, an opening which he has played only once before.

 against a noted opponent, Alexei Shirov of Spain, last year.

Negi, who drew with So in the third round, was only too happy with So’s choice of opening.

“I don’t know if the nightmare is over. But after four straight losses, this win was certainly welcome,” Negi told the official AAI website.

“It was a big surprise for me to see him (So) used the Petroff. Maybe, he just wanted to play solid and also surprise. I thought I wouldn’t take any chances,” said Negi, who admitted approaching the round rather cautiously due to his four-game losing skid.

The loss virtually dashed all hopes of So to catch up with top seed GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy and pulled him down to a share of third to fourth places with Laznicka with only two rounds left in this six-player, category 17 tournament.

Caruana, the highest-rated player here with an ELO of 2714, outwitted women world champion Hou Yifan of China in 46 moves of the Sicilian Najdorf to strengthen his bid for the title and the top prize of US$8,000 with 6.5 points with five wins and three draws.

GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India subdued Laznicka in 30 moves of the Queen’s Indian to vault into solo second place with five points.

So and Laznicka are tied for third to fourth places with four points.

 In Friday’s ninth and penultimate round, So will meet Yifan, Laznicka wil play Caruana and Sasikiran will meet Negi.

The tournament concludes Saturday with matches pitting Caruana against So, Hou against Sasikiran and Negi against Laznicka.

,Aside from the US$8,000 top prize, the tournament also offers $6, 00 to the runner, $4,000 to the third placer, $3,000 to the fourth placer, $2,000 to the fifth placer and $1,5000 to the sixth placer.