GRANDMASTER Wesley So settled for a draw with GM David Howell of England in the third round Tuesday and dropped to joint third in the Qatar Masters Open 2015.
The Philippine-born So, now representing the United States, was at 2.5 points in the company of Howell, world champion and top seed GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway and 11 others in the tournament that lured 132 players from all over the world.
Third seed GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands and No. 6 GM Li Chao of China vaulted to the top with a perfect 3.0 points following victories over Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Indian GM S.P. Sethuraman, respectively.
Carlsen trounced Russian IM Daiil Yuffa to catch up with So, Howell, and GMs Shakhrivar Mamedrayov of Azerbaijan, Alexndra Kosteniuk of Russia, Yu Yangyi of China, Dariusz Swiercz of Poland, Maxim Matlakov of Russia, Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, Ni Hua of China, Vladimir Akopian of Armenia, Daniil Dubov of Russia, Surya Shekhar of India and Sanan Sjugirov of Russia.
The fourth round is being played at presstime with Li and Giri disputing the solo lead in board 1. So will handle white against Akopian while Carlsen will play black against Duda.