SPLIT THE POINT: WESLEY SO MISSED WINNING CHANCES

Games on Wednesday, round 10, Group B:

Erwin l’Ami - Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Dimitri Reinderman - Pentala Harikrishna
Ni Hua - Parimarjan Negi
Emil Sutovsky - Varuzhan Akobian
Tomi Nyback - Wesley So
Anish Giri - Arkadij Naiditsch
David Howell - Anna Muzychuk

Individual Standings after round 9, Group B:

6.5 points— GM Anish Giri (Netherlands)

6 points— GM Erwin L’Ami (Netherlands), GM Ni Hua (China)

5.5 points—GM Wesley So (Philippines), GM Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany)

5 points—GM Pentala Harikrishna (India), GM Parimarjan Negi (India)

4.5 points— GM David Howell (England)

4 points—  GM Emil Sutovsky (Israel), WGM Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine)

3.5 points— GM Liviu- Dieter Nisipeanu (Romania)

3 points—GM Tony Nyback (Finland)

2.5 points— GM Dimitri Reinderman (Netherlands)

2 points—GM Varuzhan Akobian (United States)

2 points—GM Varuzhan Akobian (USA)

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Filipino Grandmaster Wesley Barbasa So missed winning chances during the endgame and ended into a figthing draw his ninth round game against Israeli Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky using the advantageous white pieces in the on-going 72nd Corus international chess championship group B Tuesday night (Manila Time) at the De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands.

GM Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor, one of the live commentator for Chessdom quoted as saying,” White is probably no longer winning, he missed too many chances earlier, probably he should have thought longer on his 41st move. The advantageous variation I gave earlier was white’s last chance.”

A series of exchanges left So a pawn up and he managed to simplify the position into a rook plus two knights endgame with the Filipino having a passed e-pawn in the center. It was now a matter of coordinating his pieces to continue creating threats.

The 16 year old So’s e-pawn reached the 6th rank on his 35th move and Sutovsky, who is fresh from winning the Inventi GM event in Belgium, used his rook to block the pawn advance. But the 32 year old Sutovsky defended well and after and exchange of knights, So’s pawn could not make headway and a truce was declared after 42 pushes of Gruenfeld defense, Classical variation.

The Bacoor, Cavite native’s Corus stint is being supported by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) President/Chairman Prospero Pichay, Jr. and Filway Marketing Inc. CEO/President Hector Tagaysay.

So is currently 5.5 points, the same output of top seed German GM Arkadij Naiditsch who beat So’s tenth round opponent—Finnish GM Toni Nyback after 40 moves of Ruy Lopez Schliemann skirmish.

Over-night sole leader Dutch GM Anish Giri remains on top with 6.5 points despite yielding to Ukrainian WGM Anna Muzychuk after 55 moves of Sicilian Rossolimo.

Striking distance is Dutch GM Erwin L’Ami and Chinese GM Ni Hua who tallied 6 points each after winning their respective matches.Ami downed England GM David Howell after 61 moves of French Tarrasch while Ni toppled American GM Varuzhan Akobian after 50 moves of Gruenfeld Defence.

In other Tuesday’s ninth round results, Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna settled a truce with Romanian  GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu after 24 moves of King’s Indian defense while Indian GM Parimarjan Negi crushed Dutch GM Dimitri Reinderman after 40 moves of Sicilian Modern Dragon.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO.