So forced to must-win with black

Philippine-born Grandmaster Wesley So settled for a draw with German GM Matthias Bluebaum Wednesday night, making their second game on Thursday a do-or-die affair in the World Chess Cup 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Handling black, So will try to extract the full point against the lower-rated Bluebaum in order to advance to the round of 32.

While world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway handily beat Russian GM Aleksey Dreev, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand of India got stunned by Canadian GM Anotno Kovalyov and needs to win their second game to forge a playoff.—ROY LUARCA