Top-seeded Armenian brings high-flying So back to earth

Standings after six rounds: 5.0 points—Aronian; 4.0—Giri, Karjakin; 3.5—So, Dominguez, Caruana; 3.0—Harikrishna, Nakamura; 2.0—Van Wely, Rapport; 1.5—Gelfand; 1.0—Naiditsch. Round 7 pairings: Caruana-Giri, Rapport-Harikrishna, Nakamura-Van Wely, Naiditsch-Dominguez, So-Karjakin, Gelfand-Aronian.

Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So found the top-seeded Armenian GM Levon Aronian too tough to crack and came to grief in the sixth round of the 76th Tata Steel Tournament Masters Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

So (Elo 2719), coming off a stunning victory over Israeli GM Boris Gelfand (Elo 2777) on Friday, yielded to world No. 2 Aronian (Elo 2803) in 36 moves of a King’s Fianchetto Skirmish.

The result halted the Filipino’s steady rise in the super-tough Category A tournament while giving Aronian a firmer grip on the lead with 5.0 points, a full point clear of Dutch GM Anish Giri (Elo 2737) and Russian GM Sergey Karjakin (Elo 2756).

So, winner of four tough tournaments last year, was mired at 3.5 points, in a tie with Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez (Elo 2754) and Italian GM Fabiano Caruana (Elo 2782).

Giri split the point with Gelfand after 66 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense while Karjakin beat GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany (Elo 2737) after 76 moves of Barcza System.

Dominguez drew with GM Hikaru Nakamura (Elo 2786) of the United States after 42 moves of a Ruy Lopez while Caruana halved the point with GM Pentala Harikrishna (Elo 2708) of India after 132 moves of another Ruy Lopez.