So scores 9th straight draw
MANILA, Philippines - Wesley So closed out his campaign in the Fifth Norway Chess 2017 with his ninth straight draw against eventual champion Levon Aronian of Armenia to finish in the middle of the pack in Stavanger-region Friday night.
His draw with Aronian ended in 59 moves of a Gruenfeld after the two swapped every piece that left them with two pawns each.
After nine rounds, the Cavite-born, Minnetonka, Minnesota-based chesser finished tied with US teammate Fabiano Caruana and Dutch Anish Giri at fourth place with 4.5 points each.
Caruana downed the US’ Hikaru Nakamura while Giri fell to Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik.
Aronian ended up topping the nine-round tournament with six points he highlighted with a stunning win over reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen.
Nakamura and Kramnik wound up at joint second with five points each.
The draws dealt a big blow to So’s title aspirations.
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