FILIPINO grandmaster Wesley So used his remaining bishop to block the path of a passed pawn, and force a draw with GM Fabiano Caruana last Wednesday.
The pair split the point in 33 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, with the draw allowing So to improve his record in the bottom of the standings.
The 23-year-old So now shares 2.5 points in eighth to 10th places after seven rounds of the the 5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Grand Chess Tour in Saint Louis, Missouri.
His bishop to a4 kept the black-playing Caruana’s from advancing his b6 pawn.
So now shares the same record with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura.
GM Maxine Vachier Lagrave was two pawns down, but he still held Sergey Karjakin at bay when he captured a pawn, and threatened to take another when asked for a draw in 45 moves of a Ruy Lopez.
He has 4.5 points, and is now in a three-way tie for the lead with Armenian GM Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand.
Aronian stopped Nakamura in 54 moves of an Uncommon Opening while Anand prevailed over Nepomniachtchi in 40 moves of a Sicilian Defense.
World no. Magnus Carlsen sits in lone second with four points.
That’s after Carlsen drew with Peter Svidler in 47 moves of a Scotch Defense.