So draws for 8th straight time

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So settled for his eighth draw in row, this time against United States standout Hikaru Nakamura in 35 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined in the penultimate round of the 5th Norway Chess in Stavenger-region Thursday night.

So and Nakamura swapped minor pieces early and ended up with an equal position and eventually a draw after the former forced it via perpetual check.

With a round to go, So is tied with Russian Vladimir Kramnik at fourth place with four points apiece, or 1.5 points behind solo leader Levon Aronian of Armenia, who has 5.5 points.

Aronian drew with Indian Vishwanathan Anand.

 Nakamura remained at second with five points, just half a point ahead of Dutch Anish Giri, who halved the point with the US’ Fabiano Caruana, with 4.5 points.

 The other results of the round saw reigning world champion and top seed Magnus Carlsen beating Russian Sergey Karjakin and French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave trouncing Russian Vladimir Kramnik.

 So was playing Aronian in the final round at press time hoping for his first win of this nine-round event.