ROUND 7: WESLEY SO DRAWS RUSSIAN GM; JOINT 6TH SPOT

Individual Standings after round 7:

5 points— GM Ian Nepomniattchi (Russia), GM Boris Grachev (Russia), GM Boris Savchenko (Russia), GM Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson (Vietnam)

4.5 points—GM Wesley So (Philippines), GM Etienne Bacrot (France), GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), GM Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany), GM Evgeny Bareev (Russia), GM Evgeniy Najer (Russia), GM Artyom Timofeev (Russia), GM Anton Korobov (Ukraine), GM Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria), GM Krishnan Sasikiran (India), GM Zhou Jianchao (China)

.FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley Barbasa So (Elo 2656) settled for a draw with Russian GM Artyom Timofeev (Elo 2652) late Monday night in the seventh round of the Aeroflot Open 2010 Chess Tournament at Hotel Gamma-Delta in Moscow, Russia, but he kept his hold on the joints sixth placers along with ten other players.

The 16-year-old So agreed to a draw after 21 moves of Slav defense using the disadvantageous back pieces. The Pinoy prodigy has 4.5 points and trails the leaders by half a point going into the last two round, in the A1 group (for chessplayers with a FIDE rating higher than 2549) with the winner getting the lions share of 21,000 euros.

Other 4.5 pointers were Timofeev, defending champion GM Etienne Bacrot and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, GM Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany, GM Evgeny Bareev and GM Evgeniy Najer of Russia, Russia, GM Anton Korobov of Ukraine, GM Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India and GM Zhou Jianchao of China, So’s Tuesday’s eight round opponent.

According to National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president/chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay Jr., the 25-year-old Timofeev previously won the Russian Cup for Men 2007 and the Moscow Open A 2008, capture the pawn in the c6 square that forced the Bacoor, Cavite whiz kid So to accept the draw.

Timofeev has five pawns, a Knight, Rook and Queen while So also has five pawns, black Bishop, Rook and a Queen.

“Nang na capture ni GM Timofeev ang pawn ni Wesley sa c6 square ay nagkasundo na ang dalawa ng tabla,” said Pichay in an interview yesterday, who has already produced five GMs in three years in office (NCFP president) that includes Wesley So, Darwin Laylo, Jayson Gonzales, John Paul Gomez and Joseph Sanchez.

There are five players with 5 points: GM Ian Nepomniattchi (Elo 2658), GM Boris Grachev (Elo 2653) and GM Boris Savchenko (Elo 2638) of Russia, GM Le Quang Liem (Elo 2647) and GM Nguyen Ngoc Truongson (Elo 2616) of Vietnam.

GM Darwin Laylo (Elo 2556), the only other Filipino entry in the 80-player field, continued his struggles.

The former San Sebastian College standout lost for the sixth time in seven matches, bowing to GM Alexei Iljushin (Elo 2551) of Russia after 64 moves of Slav defense using the disadvantageous black pieces. Laylo remains at 0.5 point.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO