RUSSIAN-born Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri bungled a winning opportunity and settled for a draw against Filipino GM Wesley So last Monday in the ongoing Altibox Norway Chess 2017 at the Clarion Hotel Energy in Stavanger, Norway.
Giri drew by repetition of moves with So in 55 moves of an English Opening in their sixth round encounter.
The draw was So’s sixth in as many matches. This allowed him to move up to a share of second spot with three others.
According to analysts, Giri gained the upper hand with a good h6 pawn move in the 26th push.
The black-playing Giri was able to support his rook d7, which was pressuring the queen side back rank.
But a rook a7 push on the 30th proved to be his undoing.
That move threatened to capture a passed pawn at a4.
This allowed So to force a queen exchange and gain control of the king side.
So went on to attack Giri’s back rank with a rook c1 move in the 41st.
A draw resulted when Giri pushed his rook to a7 twice to check the black king.
The 23-year-old So now shares second place with Giri, Sergey Karjakin and Vladmimir Kramnik.
GM Hikaru Nakamura played to a draw in 54 moves of a Nimzo Indian Defense with Karjakin to keep the lead.
He shares the top spot with Levon Aronian with four points.
Aronian climbed to the top of the standings after he won over Kramnik in 34 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined, semi-Tarrasch variation.
Meanwhile, Nakamura’s game transitioned into an endgame after he developed a bishop pair against Karjakin’s knight and bishop.
But the position he had did not allow him to carry out an effective attack against his opponent and they eventually settled for a draw.