Wesley draws again, ends up joint fourth

MANILA, Philippines – Grandmaster Wesley So closed out with a 33-move draw with English GM Michael Adams in their Ruy Lopez game to finish tied for fourth in the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands Sunday night.

So, who placed second here last year, finished undefeated in 13 games, winning one over Dutch GM Anish Giri in the opening round but settled for draws the rest of the way, ending up in joint fourth with Giri and Ukrainian GM Pavel Eljanov with seven points.

The effort was way off So’s performance last year when he finished tied at No. 2 and half a point behind eventual winner and r

Reigning world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway topped the elite event for the second straight year, finishing with nine points after a marathon 99-move draw with Chinese GM Ding Liren in another Ruy Lopez duel.

Ding finished at joint second with GM Fabiano Caruana with eight points.

Caruana, who with So will banner the US team in this year’s Olympiad in Azerbaijan, went all out for a win for a crack at the crown. But he lost his way in the opening and lost to Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky in 63 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Defense.