So keeps second with another draw

Standings after six rounds:

4 points—F. Caruana (Italy); 3.5—W. So (RP), M. Vachier-Lagrave (France), E. Tomashevsky (Russia), D. Andreikin (Russia), M.Rodshtein (Israel); 3—N.N. Truong Son (Vietnam); 2.5—A. Giri (Netherlands); 1.5—P. Negi (India), D. Howell (England)

BIEL, SWITZERLAND—GM Wesley So of the Philippines settled for a draw with GM Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia in the sixth round Saturday to remain within striking distance of the lead in the 2010 Biel Young Grandmasters chess championship here.

The draw was reached after only 24 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Declined as both players opted to play it safe after five action-packed games.

When the game was drawn, the 23-year-old Tomashevsky had a queen, rook, bishop, knight and six pawns while the 16-year-old So had a queen, rook, two knights and the same number of pawns.

“Tomashevsky played safely and Wesley did the right thing by not taking unnecessary risks with still three rounds remaining,” commented National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) executive director Willie Abalos, who followed the game analysis with IM Chito Garma and chess friends until late Saturday.

The draw left both So and Tomashevsky in a five-way tie for second to sixth places with top seed GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, GM Dmtry Andreikin of Russia and GM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel at 3.5 points.

So’s fifth-round tormentor, GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy, leads with four points.

Vachier-Lagrave , the highest-rated player here with an Elo of 2723, registered the lone victory for the day when he beat GM David Howell of England.

The three other matches in this 10-player, all-GM tournament—Caruana against GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, Andreikin against Rodshtein and GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands against GM Parimarjan Negi of India—also ended in draws.

The players take a much-needed break Sunday before returning to action for the final three rounds.

The seventh round will resume at 2 p.m. Monday (8 p.m., Manila time) with So hoping to get back into contention when he meets Truong Son, one of the fast-rising young players from Vietnam.

After two consecutive games with the black pieces against Caruana and Tomashevsky, So will handle white against Truong Son.