So clinches 3rd place in World Open

Top Filipino Grandmaster Wesley So was held to a draw in his final match and settled for third place in the 40th Annual World Open Chess Championship held recently at the Sheraton City Center Hotel in Philadelphia.

The 18-year-old So, who totes an Elo rating of 2650, split the point with American GM Yuri Shulman and wound up with 6.5 points on four wins and five draws in the event ruled by GM Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands.

Sokolov, (Elo 2680) downed fellow seven-pointer GM Alexander Shabalov of the USA in the tiebreak match en route to the title and the $20,000 that goes with it.

So took third place with a superior tiebreak score over GMs Giorgi Kacheishvili of Georgia, Alexander Evdokimov of Russia, and Aleksander Lenderman, Ray Robson, Shulman and Mark Tyler Arnold of the USA.

Earlier, So drew with Fide Master Michael Bodek in the opening round then beat American Benjamin Krause in the second.

The pride of Bacoor, Cavite, then halved the point with Mongolian GM Tsegmed Batchuluun and Belarusian GM Vladimir Romanenko, respectively, before notching consecutive victories over Colombian GM Alonso Zapata, Indian GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and Belarusian GM Atanas Ivan Kolev.

Shabalov stalled So’s march with a draw in the eighth and penultimate round.