Wesley So collects sixth draw in Candidates Tournament

MANILA, Philippines – One win, 3 losses and 6 draws.

That is what Wesley So has to show for with four rounds left in the Fide Candidates Tournament in Berlin. His 6th half-point was with China’s Dang Liren in the 10th round.

On Friday night, March 23, So will play Shakriyar Mamedyarov, who at 6 points is half-a-point behind tournament leader Fabiano Caruana of the US.

If you listen to Hikaru Nakamura, an American who qualified in the 2016 Candidates, this is about par for the course for his US teammate, So.

 

 

“In general he is very solid but he doesn’t win a lot of games so I think that is a bit of a drawback. But I think he is a bit of a natural player. He tends to play well in positions which isn’t in preparation,” said Nakamura.

And in this interview uploaded by World Chess on March 20, Nakamura said the reason So is not faring well “I think he does not tend to perform well if he doesn’t go off to good start. So if he doesn’t start off well in a tournament, generally it doesn’t go well for him,” he said.

His chances in Candidates are quite low, added Nakamura, as So hasn’t played in a Candidates tournament yet.

But Ding Liren, who eliminated So in the semifinal of the 2017 World Cup is playing for the first time. Ding has drawn all his ten games, mainly due to tough defense.

So showed how complex were the lines in his draw against Ding.

 

Ding thought he was better but after So found a plan on his 15th move which involved a Rook moving to the d8 square, exchanging off his Knight and playing a freeing pawn move, Ding said So equalized.

“It seems more or less a quiet game but while you are showing off these lines, it seems a lot of tactics (are) in the air,” said presscon moderator Anastasia Karlovich. “

So, smiling, replied: “It’s always quiet when you check with the (chess) engine. You just hit the space bar.” Karlovich and Ding laughed as So continued. “You drink coffee when you are at home and just hit space bar, space bar and say how could you miss that?”

And being Saturday tomorrow, there will be some Filipinos who will be sipping coffee, encode the game on their laptop, start the engine, hit the space bar anxiously and wonder when their idol will pick up a win.

 

 

 

Round 10 results: Mamedyarov 0.5 – 0.5 Caruana, Grischuk 0.5 – 0.5 Karjakin, Ding Liren 0.5 – 0.5 Wesley So, Kramnik 1 – 0 Aronian.

Standings after Round 10: Caruana leads with 6.5/10. Mamedyarov 6. Grischuk 5.5. Karjakin, Ding Liren 5. Kramnik 4.5. Wesley So 4. Aronian 3.5. Four rounds to go.

Round 11 pairings:  Ding Liren – Grischuk, Wesley So – Mamedyarov, Caruana – Kramnik, Aronian – Karjakin.

– Rappler.com