So draws with German GM, keeps share of lead

Round 4 pairings Wednesday: Giri vs So, Gelfand vs Naiditsch, Aronian vs Nakamura, Karjakin vs Rapport, Dominguez vs Caruana, Van Wely vs Harikrishna.

Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So settled for another draw with German GM Arkadij Naiditsch in the third round Monday, but kept his share of top spot in the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.

Handling black, So agreed to split the point after 35 moves of Ruy Lopez Berlin and climb to 2.0 points in the company of top seed and world No. 2 GM Levon Aronian (Elo 2812) of Armenia, No. 3 GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) of the United States, No. 6 GM Fabiano Caruana (2782) of Italy, GM Anish Giri (2734) of the Netherlands and GM Pentala Harikrisna (2706) of India.

When the end came, Naiditsch had five pawns and a black bishop while So had four pawns and a white bishop.

Aronian drew with GM Richard Rapport (2691) of Hungary; Harikrishna beat GM Leinier Dominguez (2754) of Cuba; Caruana bested GM Sergey Karjakin (2756) of Russia; and Nakamura drew with GM Boris Gelfand (2777) of Israel. GM Loek Van Wely (2678) of the Netherlands (2678) drew with compatriot GM Anish Giri (2737). The tough 12-man event takes a break Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).

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