WORLD no. 4 Wesley So drew with world’s no. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the first round of the 2017 Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.
A repetition of moves involving their bishops forced Carlsen to settle for a draw in 35 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined-Slav variation.
Ukranian GM Pavel Eljanov took the solo lead after he got past Richard Rapport in 41 moves of a Reti Opening.
Eljanov, playing the white pieces, advanced the rook to the fifth rank in the d-file, and this put the black queen in check.
So and Carlsen are half a point behind, with Adhiban Baskaran and Loek Van Wely, along with Dmitry Andreikin and Wei Yi, the pair of Pentala Harikrishna and Levon Aronian, the duo of Sergey Karjakin and Anish Giri.
Carlsen said So did not have crucial moves when he offered the draw.
“He didn’t play the critical line,” said Carlsen in an online interview.
Carlsen added that So is the kind of player, who does not take many chances when he plays against stronger opposition. Peter Atencio
“He doesn’t take many chances and that is why it is very hard to beat him. I mean, he is pragmatic,” added Carlsen.
Baskaran drew with Van Wely in 61 moves, and so did Andreikin with Wei in 55 moves.
