Pinoy chesser So loses to Swedish rival

Grandmaster Wesley So walked straight into a neat Swedish trap and came out bruised and beaten at the hands of World Youth bronze medalist GM Nils Grandelius of Sweden in the pivotal fourth round of the 19th Sigeman and Co. chess championship at the classic Hipp Theater in Malmo, Sweden Sunday. So struggled badly in the face of Grandelius’ all-out attack, failing to hold serve with white and losing horribly by checkmate in 31 moves of the Nimzo-Indian defense. The end came when Grandelius’ queen caught So’s unprotected king on d1 for a checkmate. But most experts felt the game was lost when the 17-year-old Filipino champion from Bacoor, Cavite allowed his Swedish opponent to dictate the tempo of the match and labored with an uncastled king, facing heavy attack by black’s more active queen, bishop and knight during the middle game. The loss pulled down So in the standings, dropping from a share of the lead with defending champion GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands and GM Hans Tikkanen of Sweden into a tie for third to fourth places with top seed GM Alexei Shriov of Spain with only one round left in this six-player, round-robin tournament being held in this southernmost province of Scania. - RCJ/KBK, GMA News