So retains Capablanca chess lead

Standings after 6 rounds:

4.0 points—W. So (PH); 3.5—L. Dominguez (CUB); 3.0—L. Bruzon (CUB), F. Vallejo (ESP); 2.5—Z. Almasi (HUN); 2.0—V. Ivanchuk (UKR)

Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So stayed on top of the tough Capablanca Memorial 2014 despite another draw with Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon in the sixth round on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) at Habana Riviera Hotel in La Havana, Cuba.

Handling black, So agreed to split the point with Bruzon, who also held him to a draw in the first round, after 22 moves of an English Opening.

So raised his total to 4.0, half a point ahead of top-seeded Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez (Elo 2768), who drew with Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk (Elo 2753).

Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2700) caught up with Bruzon (2682) at 3.0 points following a win over Hungarian GM Zoltan Almazi (2693) in the Category 19 (average Elo 2721) six-man, double round-robin tournament.

Next up for So in the seventh round Thursday is Vallejo Pons, whom he beat with the white pieces in the second round.

With Bruzon ranked lower, So’s live rating dropped slightly from 2740.2 to 2739.5, but he stayed No. 19 in the world.