So bows to British GM, falls to third

WJJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands – Grandmaster Wesley So played well enough to win the game – and possibly the title – but blundered in an open endgame and lost to former world youth champion GM Luke McShane of England in the 12th and penultimate round of the 73rd Tata Steel-Corus Group B chess championship at the de Morianne Community Center here Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

The 17-year-old Filipino champion, who is widely expected to win the title following a smashing four-game winning streak from the fifth round, missed the right continuation in a highly-tactical endgame and resigned in 40 moves of the Caro-Kann.

When the end came, So was facing the spectre of a mate by McShane’s queen and rook or the prospect of losing his pieces to prolong the battle.

The win enabled McShane, who had overtaken GM Nigel Short to become England’s second highest-rated player behind GM Michael Adams in the FIDE January ratings list, to move into a two-way tie for the lead with GM David Navara of Czech Republic going into the 13th and final round Sunday.

Navara, one of So’s four victims, vaulted into the lead with a decisive win over GM Friso Nijober of the Netherlands. The Czech champion had scored 4.5 points in the last five rounds since the loss to So.

McShane and Navara, who both have eight points, found themselves in a virtual championship match when they clash in the final round.

So, on the other hand, dropped from first place into a tie for fourth to seventh places with seven points with GMs Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia and Vlad Tkachiev of France.

GM Zahar Efimenko of Ukraine halved the point with Le to move into solo third place with 7.5 points.

On Sunday, So will try to improve his standings when he takes on top seed GM Radek Wojtaszek (ELO 2726) of Poland with the white pieces.