Grandmaster Wesley So settled for a third straight draw, this time against Ukrainian GM Ruslan Ponomariov, and dropped to a share of fourth to 19th places in the tough Qatar Masters Open 2015 in Doha.
The 22-year-old So—the United States’ No. 2-ranked player and until 2014 the Philippines’ board 1 player in the Chess Olympiad— pooled 5.0 points in seven rounds, half a point behind co-leaders world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and GM Sanan Sjugirov of the Netherlands.
So, who also drew with Dutch GM Anish Giri in the fifth round and Carlsen in the sixth, was tangling with Chinese International Master Lin Chen in the eighth and penultimate round at press time last night.
Lin stunned compatriot GM Hou Yifan, the reigning world women’s champion, to climb back into contention for the $27,000 champion’s purse.
Carlsen and Giri also agreed to a truce in Round 7 while Mamedyarov trounced Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly.
Bunched with So were Giri, Lin, Ponomariov, China’s Xu Yinglun and GMs Ni Hua and Yu Yangyi, Russian GMs Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin, Polish GM Dariusz Swiercz, Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna, Swede GM Nils Grandelius, Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian, Vietnamese GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen, and Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk.
The untitled Xu turns out to be the seventh round’s biggest surprise in the $130,000 tournament after shocking Russian GM Ildar Khairullin. Roy Luarca