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Source: Marlon Bernardino, ABS-CBN News

-- Teenage Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So (ELO 2656) tried hard to squeeze out a victory but eventually settled for a draw with Armenian GM Arman Pashikian (ELO 2642) in the 6th round of the Aeroflot Open 2010 Chess Tournament.

The 16-year-old So gave Pashikian some uneasy moments in the highly-positional battle that took place at the Izmailovo Gamma-Delta Hotel in Moscow, Russia.

The Bacoor, Cavite native seemed to challenge his Armenian opponent before settling for a truce in 52 moves of the Slav defense Queen’s gambit transposition.

According to National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) President/Chairman Prospero Pichay, Jr., both players castled on opposite sides of a Slav defense Queen’s gambit transposition and the game ended in a bishop and pawn endgame.

“Bali book draw na ang naganap. May isang pawn at white bishop si Wesley habang isang pawn y’ung Armenian GM. Pag na capture ni Wesley ang pawn sa c2 square ay ilalagay na ng Armenian GM ang kanyang king sa h8, kahit may isa pang pawn at bishop si Wesley ay book draw kasi black ang square sa h8.” said Pichay.

The 2009 Corus C chess champion So has 4 points along with 10 other players. He is still half a point behind the 3 leaders, GM Boris Grachev (ELO 2653), GM Le Quang Liem (ELO 2647) and GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (ELO 2616). They tallied 4.5 points each after 6 games of play.

Another Filipino, GM Darwin Laylo (ELO 2556), has 0.5 point after yielding to Ukrainian GM Yuriy Ajrapetjan (ELO 2525) after 55 moves of Slav defense using the disadvantageous black pieces.

In Monday’s 7th round, So and Laylo will go against Russian GMs Artyom Timofeev (ELO 2652) and Alexei Iljushin (ELO 2551), respectively, using the disadvantageous black pieces.

The 2 Filipinos’ participation in the Aeroflot Open A1 group is backed by Pichay.