Still winless, So draws with Dutch

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So failed in his bid anew to nail his first win as he was held to a 59-move draw by Dutch Anish Giri of an English duel to remain a full point off the pace after six rounds of the Norway Chess 2017 in Stavanger region Monday night.

So gained a queenside passed pawn and appeared headed to securing his first win before Giri found a way to create kingside counterplay and forced perpetual check for the fighting draw.

The Cavite-born, Minnetonka, Minnesota-based So thus wound up with his sixth straight split for a four-way logjam at third spot with Giri and Russians Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Kramnik with three points apiece.

Armenian Levon Aronian jumped into a share of the lead with the United States' Hikaru Nakamura following a 34-move win over Kramnik of a Queen's Gambit Declined with four points each.

Nakamura halved the point with Karjakin.

Interestingly, Aronian caught his second big fish in Kramnik, a former world champion, after the former shocked reigning world titlist Magnus Carlsen a few days back.

The result sent Kramnik back to World No. 3 with a live rating of 2806.9 after occupying No. 2 for a few days.

So regains No. 2 with 2810.6.

The tournament took its last break Tuesday and will resume Wednesday with So battling US teammate Fabiano Caruana.