FILIPINO grandmaster Wesley So fell down a notch in his world ranking after settling for a draw with Viswananthan Anand in 32 moves of a Ruy Lopez Opening.
So moved down to no. 4 after taking his 8th draw against three wins and a loss in the penultimate 12th round of the 80th Tata Steel Chess Masters Tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands.
Anand offered a draw following a queen exchange, and So remained at no. 4 in the standings.
The 24-year old So shares seven points with Sergey Karjakin, who drew with Peter Svidler in 32 moves of a King’s Indian Attack.
Because of this, So fell from no. 3 to no. 4 in the unofficial live world rankings.
The crown could either go to Anish Giri or world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen, who disposed of their respective rivals.
Giri prevailed over Bashkaran Adhiban in 42 moves of an English Opening while Carlsen rallied two passed pawns to the front at endgame, forcing Maxim Matklakov to quit in 57 moves of a Sicilian Taimanov.
Shakh Mamedyarov is now in lone second with 7.5 points after he drew with Gawain Jones in just 12 moves of a Petrov.
Anand moved to third and shares 7.5 points with Vladimiri Kramnik.
Kramnik needed 32 moves to get past Fabiano Caruana.
