So’s update in Wijk aan Zee

So draws with Vietnamese rival
by Ed Andaya
Sunday, 16 January 2011 20:55

WIJK AAN ZEE, Netherlands — GM Wesley So of the Philippines battled to a short but fighting draw against Southeast Asian rival GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam at the start of the 2011 Tata Steel-Corus Group B chess championships at the de Moriaan Community Center here Saturday.

So, who is making his third straight appearance in this prestigious tournament being held annually for the 73rd time in this seaside resort town, and Le agreed to split the point in 36 moves of the Catalan. When the game was agreed drawn, So had a bishop and four pawns against Le’s knight and four pawns.

Although he allowed the Vietnamese to take the slight initiative with white in the opening where he had more space and active pieces, the 17-year-old Filipino champion defended well and wisely steered the game into a drawish endgame following an exchange of the major pieces that included the queens and rooks.

“An interesting game where both players showed stable knowledge and the final result reflects the balance on the board,” said IM Alexander Ibatov during his live commentary of the game for chessdom.com.

Ibatov, currently Spain’s top junior player, said Le played a good and solid opening where he had a slight advantage due to more space and a bit more active pieces.

But he said So made the right continuation, giving up a pawn on the 28th move to remove his weakness on the c5 and regaining it two moves later to force a draw.

Up next for So is sixth seed GM Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia in the second round Sunday.

Sargissian defeated GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India in 38 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted to take the early lead with GMs David Navara of Czech Republic, Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine and Luke McShane of England.

Navara shocked top seed Radek Wojtaszek of Poland in 58 moves of the English opening, Efimenko subdued Jon Ludvig Hammer of the Norway in 78 moves of the Benoni and McShane humbled Wouter, Spoelman of the Netherlands in 69 moves of the Sicilian.

Full article here.