Draw drops So to joint second in Iceland

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So battled French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a draw and dropped to joint second again after six rounds of the Reykjavik Open Chess Championship in Iceland yesterday.

The seventh-seeded So opted for a rare line and played aggressively throughout but just couldn’t pull it off, settling for a draw in 27 moves of the Sicilian-Paulsen Variation.

So chose a seldom-used line of 5...Qc7 which Vachier-Lagrave countered with an interesting 6. Be3 push. After So’s Nxe5 move on the 19th, Vachier-Lagrave opted for more complications, forcing the Filipino ace to agree to a draw with no clear chances of winning.

The 19-year-old So tries to regain a share of the lead as he takes on GM Stelios Halkias of Greece in the seventh round.

GM Pavel Elianov of Ukraine seized the solo lead with 5.5 points while So had five points in a tie with six others. Elianov trounced GM Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria to grab the solo lead.