FILIPINO grandmaster Wesley So found a winning opportunity in the 29th move, but American GM Hikaru Nakamura held him to a draw in 35 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined in the eighth round.
This gave So his eighth draw in as many rounds last Thursday in the ongoing Altibox Norway Chess 2017 at the Clarion Hotel Energy in Stavanger, Norway.
So, playing black, penetrated the backrank with a queen move to b2 in the 29th.
He found a chance to make an attack when Nakamura pushed his pawn to h4, instead of making a better rook d4 move, according to analysts.
Two moves later, So was making a series of checks.
But a repetition of moves by Nakamura forced So to ask for a draw.
So now shares fourth spot with four points with GM Vladimir Kramnik.
On the other hand, Levon Aronian kept his hold on the solo lead after drawing with Viswanathan Anand in in 32 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Game.
He has 5.5 points, half a point ahead of Nakamura, who has five points.
Anish Giri is in third with 4.5 points after he drew with Fabiano Caruana in 67 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted.