Wesley draws with Nakamura, still leads

MANILA, Philippines - Grandmaster Wesley So fought second seed and World No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura of the US to a fighting draw in their transposed French duel to remain tied for the lead with four others after two rounds of the 76th Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands Sunday night.

So, who trounced Hungarian Richard Rapport in Saturday’s opener of the top-level tournament, held his ground against the fancied Nakamura, who totes a 2789 rating, to stay in the lead with No. 2 Levon Aronian of Armenia, No. 5 Sergey Karjakin of Russia and Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Nakamura at 1.5 points each.

So, who moved to No. 28 in the world last December, actually gained a slight positional edge and an active pair of bishops after a series of minor piece exchanges. But finding little room for a breakthrough, he offered the draw on the 26th which Nakamura accepted.

“Most of the time I think it was unclear, I’m not really sure of what will happen,” said So during postgame interview.