WESLEY SO FALTERS IN BIEL CHESS; LOSES TO DUTCH GM LOST BID FOR CROWN

FILIPINO Grandmaster Wesley Barbasa So has lost to Dutch GM Anish Giri in their 8th round match that could put him back on top of the 43rd Biel International Chess Festival Young Grandmasters tournament in Biel, Switzerland on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old So yielded to Giri after 44 moves of English Opening and lost his bid for the crown. Interestingly, Giri also beat So during the 72nd Corus international chess championship in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands this year.

The loss kept So stuck with 4 points. He is currently tied at 5th place with Giri, GM Evgeny Tomashevsky and GM Dmitry Andreikin of Russia and GM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, meantime defeated Rodshtein to create a two-way tie for first place with over-night solo leader GM Fabio Caruana of Italy with 5 points each.

Vachier-Lagrave won after 54 moves of Neo-Gruenfeld Defense while Caruana settled a truce with Rodshtein after 55 moves of Sicilian Defense.

Andreikin now has 4.5 points, the same output of GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam, who brought downed Tomashevsky after 45 moves of another English Opening.GM David Howell of England crushed GM Parimarjan Negi of India after 52 moves of Sicilian Defense for 3 points and climb at 9th spot. Negi remains at 2 points at the cellar-dweller.

In the ninth round on Wednesday, So will play white against Andreikin. In case of tie in the , there will be tie-break to declare clear first. The format is two rapid games (10 minutes, with 10’’/move). If the result is 1-1, then two blitz will be organised.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

9th round (July 28th):

Maxim Rodshtein - Evgeny Tomashevsky

Parimarjan Negi - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Fabiano Caruana - David Howell

Wesley So - Dmitry Andreikin

Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son - Anish Giri

Standings after Round 8

1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2723)

5.0

Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2697) 5.0

3. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (VIE, 2617)

4.5

Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, 2650)

4.5

5. Anish Giri (NED, 2672)

4.0

Wesley So (PHI, 2674) 4.0

Evgeny Tomashevsky

(RUS, 2708)

4.0

Maxim Rodshtein (ISR, 2609)

4.0

9. David Howell (ENG, 2616)

3.0

10. Parimarjan Negi (IND, 2615)

2.0