So bows out of contention in all GM chess tourney

Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So gambled with a seldom-used Petroff defense and lost to GM Parimarjan Negi of India in the pivotal eighth round of the 1st Airports Authority of India (AAI) international GM chess tournament at the Safadarjung Airport in New Delhi, India. So, one day after his smashing seventh round win over GM Viktor Laznicka of the Czech Republic, decided to take a risk with his Petroff defense against Negi. Experts were surprised that the 17-year-old So chose to defend with the Petroff, an opening which he used once against former world no. 4 Alexei Shirov of Spain last year. Negi, who drew with So in the third round, capitalized on the Filipino's choice of opening to take the match. "It was a big surprise for me to see him (So) use the Petroff. Maybe, he just wanted to play solid surprise me. I thought I wouldn't take any chances," said Negi, who admitted approaching the round cautiously after losing four straight. So dropped from a tie for third place to fourth in the six-player tournament and only has two rounds left to catch top seed GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy. Caruana, the highest-rated player in the tournament (ELO of 2714), outwitted female world champion Hou Yifan of China in 46 moves of the Sicilian Najdorf to strengthen title bid and the US$8,000 top prize with 6.5 points, five wins and three draws. GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India subdued Laznicka in 30 moves of the Queen's Indian to jump into solo second with five points. So and Laznicka were tied for third to fourth places with four points. In Friday's ninth and penultimate round, So meets Hou while Laznicka faces Caruana. Sasikiran battles Negi. The tournament ends Saturday with matches pitting Caruana against So, Hou versus Sasikiran and Negi opposite Laznicka. - RAP/JVP, GMA News