Wesley So escapes inferior position to stretch unbeaten mark to 49 games

MANILA, Philippines – A day after Wesley So defeated Pentala Harikrishna of India in a positional gem to grab the lead at the 2017 Tata Steel Chess Tournament in the Netherlands, the Philippine-born grandmaster escaped from strong pressure against another Indian on Saturday, January 21 to remain in the lead after 6 rounds.

With the 39-move draw against Adhiban Baskaran, So has 4.5 points followed by world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Pavel Eljanov of the Ukraine.

It was the daring of Baskaran that enlivened the round as he chose the old King’s Gambit against So, who now plays for the United States.

The King’s Gambit may have lost its allure of sacrificial attacks. Today’s vastly improved defensive techniques will prevent that but So was caught unaware and had to improvise a defense against Baskaran’s well-developed pieces. So’s queenside was not developed and Baskaran had a strong e-pawn supported by two knights.

So appeared to have been squeezed positionally but he found an ally in the chess clock. Baskaran fell behind by around 40 moves trying to sustain a dream position against the tournament leader. 

Chess engines hummed in different times zones worldwide as it found strong lines but Baskaran chose a path that led to a drawn bishop endgame. Kingcarl in the chat room of chessbomb live arena uttered the tired refrain: “So is so lucky.” – Rappler.com