So salvages draw, clinches 5th place

Final standings:

5.5 points—N.N. Truong Son (Vietnam), M. Vachier-Lagrave (France), F. Caruana (Italy); 5.0—D. Andreikin (Russia); 4.5—W. So (RP), E. Tomashevsky (Russia), M. Rodshtein (Israel); 4.0—A. Giri (Netherlands); 3.5—D. Howell (England); 3.0—P. Negi (India)

BIEL, SWITZERLAND—Filipino hope Wesley So salvaged a draw against Russian Dmitry Andreikin in the ninth and final round Wednesday to finish fifth in the 2010 Biel Young Grandmasters chess championship at the Congress Center.

The draw gave the 16-year-old So a total of 4.5 points in the 10-player, all-GM tournament, the same output of Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky and Israeli Maxim Rodshtein.

So clinched fifth place by virtue of a higher tiebreak score of 19.50 Sonneborn-Berger points. Tomashevsky had 18.75 and Rodshtein 18.50.

Recovering from an inferior position, So split the point with Andreikin after 86 moves of the Old Indian’s defense.

Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son stunned So conqueror Anesh Giri of the Netherlands in the last round to finish in a three-way tie for first with top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and third seed Fabiano Caruana of Italy with 5.5 points and force a two-part playoff for the title.

Nguyen clinched top spot with higher tiebreak score of 24.00 SB points and earn the first finals berth.

Vachier-Lagrave (23.75 SB) and Caruana (23.50) will play two blitz games Thursday, with the winner facing Nguyen in the final.