So, Rodhstein Still Leads After the Second Round of Biel Chess Festival

It was a dull day in the second round of the 43rd Biel Chess Festival held in Switzerland as all players in five boards agreed to a truce. Grandmaster Wesley So of the Philippines springs some surprises on his game against the top seeded French Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2723) in the middle stages of the match but was wittingly neutralized by superb counter plays. The exciting match between these two feisty chess players ended in a draw after exhausting 64 moves. The Filipino number one player still leads in the tournament alongside Maxim Rodhstein (2609) of Israel which was also held to a draw by Italian rising Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana (2697). Caruana scored his second draw counting the one he had against Anish Giri who triumphed this year in the Section B of the prestigious Corus Chess Tournament also drew his game against Vachier-Lagrave in the first round.

Grandmasters David Howell of England (2616) bounced back into contention by scoring a hard fought draw against GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (2617).

The drawish games between second-seed Russian GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2708) of Russia against Parimarjan Negi (2615) of India and Anish Giri of the Netherlands (2672) over Dmitry Andreikin (2650) of Russia are still played as of press time.

So and Rodhstein still leads in the tournament by just a half point against their nearest pursuers.

Standings After Second Round

1.5 So (Philippines), Rodhstein (Israel)

1.0 Vachier-Lagrave (France), Caruana (Italy), Truong Son (Vietnam),

0.5 Giri (Netherlands)*, Tomashevsky (Russia)*, Andreikin (Russia)*, Howell (England)

0 Negi (India)*

* Playing as of press time

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