Wesley, Chinese GM draw first match

MANILA, Philippines —  Grandmaster Wesley So failed to translate a slight positional edge into a winning attack and settled for a fighting 47-move draw of a Giuoco Piano with Chinese GM Ding Liren in the first game of their two-game semifinal duel in the FIDE World Chess Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia Tuesday night.

The second seeded So and Ding equalized early but the former came up with a counter play on a kingside pawn attack which he failed to sustain after opting for king move that enabled Ding to force a draw via perpetual check.

In the post-game analysis, So could’ve completed his attack with an exchange sacrifice right after the first time control on the 41st.

So, who eased out Russian Vladimir Fedoseev in the quarters, and Ding, who booted out Hungarian Richard Rapport, were disputing their second standard duel at presstime.

The other semis showdown pitting fifth seed Levon Aronian of Armenia with eighth pick Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France also ended in a draw in 32 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense.

The four are fighting for two berths in the Candidates Matches with the winner bagging the US$120,000 purse.