So posts 7th straight draw, bows out of title contention

GM Wesley So

MANILA, Philippines – Wesley So missed his chance for his first win of the tournament and settled for his seventh straight draw against United States teammate Fabiano Caruana to virtually clinch his title chances goodbye in the 15th Norway Chess in Stavanger-region Wednesday night.

So won a pawn early but failed to cash in on his advantage as Caruana masterfully steered it to an opposite-colored bishop endgame and a marathon 67-move draw of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted.

After seven rounds, So has 3.5 points, which was only good for solo fifth place or 1.5 points off the pace.

Armenian Levon Aronian brought down Russian Sergey Karjakin to seize the solo lead with five points, half a point ahead of No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura of the US, who split the point with Indian Vishwanathan Anand, with 4.5 points.

Russian Vladimir Kramnik brought down reigning world champion Magus Carlsen and Dutch Anish Giri smashed French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to zoom to a share of third with four points each.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/sports/2017/06/15/1710309/so-posts-7th-straight-draw-bows-out-title-contention