Wesley So settles for draw, slips at solo third in Tata Steel Chess Masters
Wesley So settled for a draw with India’s Parham Maghsoodloo to slip to third place after nine rounds of the Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands Tuesday, Jan. 24.

The 29-year-old So split the point in 31 moves of a Nimzo-Indian duel to briefly improve to 5.5 points on two wins and seven draws after sharing second with Dutch Anish Giri the round before.
Giri took solo second instead after sending world No. 2 Ding Liren of China crashing down to earth with a 37-move triumph of a King’s Indian Attack for six points.
Teen sensation Nodirbek Abdusattorov continued to lead the field after fighting German Vincent Keymer to a marathon 89-move draw of an English encounter for 6.5 points.
So remained in the title hunt if he could pull the rug from under Giri in the 10th round being held at press time.
So’s last three foes are reigning world classical, rapid and blitz titlist Magnus Carlsen, Abdusattorov and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa of India.
Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa are currently on a four-way logjam at fourth to seven places with Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana with five points apiece.
Maghsoodloo, meanwhile, is tied at ninth to 10th place with four points, Jorden Van Foreest at 11th with 3.5 points, and Keymer, Erigaisi Arjun and Gukesh Dommaraju at the bottom with three points each.