So settles for draw vs Russian GM, bows out of World Cup

FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley So found Russian GM Evgeny Tomashevsky tough to crack and settled for a draw in Game 2 of their second-round duel on Thursday (early Friday in Manila) that ended his stint in the 2013 World Chess Cup in Tromso, Norway.

With no potent attack in sight, So split the point with Tomashevsky after 23 moves of a Ruy Lopez (Marshall Attack), enabling the 2009 European champion to win their two-game standard play duel, 1.5-0.5, and advance to the third round of the biennial event.

So’s compatriot GMs Oliver Barbosa and Mark Paragua were eliminated after the first round of the elite 128-player tournament.

So earlier bested world junior champion GM Alexander Ipatov of Turkey, 1.5-0.5, to forge the clash with Tomashevsky (Elo 2708).

The 19-year-old So, who picked up the $8,000 prize for second-round losers, thus matched his performance in the 2011 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, where he lost to then top-ranked GM Sergey Karjakin.

In the 2009 edition, also held in Khanty-Mansiysk, So reached the fourth round, stunning former world title contenders Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Gata Kamsky of the United States along the way. Roy Luarca