Grandmaster Wesley So drew with Romanian Bogdan-Daniel Deac to keep his share of the lead with two others after five rounds in the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania late Wednesday, June 9.
So, playing the black pieces, halved the point after 37 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted to slightly improve to 3 points and share the top leaderboard with Russia’s Alexander Grischuk and Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Grischuk, who was So’s co-leader after the fourth round, split the point with Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov in 35 moves of a Queen’s Pawn: London System, while Mamedyarov caught up with So and Grischuk after besting local bet Constantin Lupulescu in 38 moves of an English Opening.
Half a point behind with 2.5 points each were Radjabov, Deac, Caruana and Armenia’s Levon Aronian.
Aronian battled France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a 46-move deadlock of an English duel while Caruana drew with the Netherland’s Anish Giri in 45 moves of a Ruy Lopez.
The nine-round tournament, which stakes a total pot worth $325,000, takes a break Friday, June 11, before resuming with a sixth-round showdown pitting So and Giri.
Other Round 6 matches pit Vachier-Lagrave against Caruana, Mamedyarov versus Aronian, Grischuk against Lupulescu, and Deac versus Radjabov.