Anish Giri of The Netherlands contemplates a move. Right: Magnus Carlsen (left) plays Polish GM Duda Jan-Krzysztof in the fourth round yesterday. PICTURES: Jayaram

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Grandmaster Wesley So split the point with English GM David Howell in 31 moves of a Sicilian to drop to joint second behind Anish Giri of the Netherlands and Li Chao of China after three rounds of the Qatar Masters Open.
Playing black, So opted for a tame line of the Sicilian, leading to a series of minor piece exchanges and a draw in a rook-and-pawn ending.
After sharing the lead with eight others the previous round, So slid to a 14-way logjam with 2.5 points along with reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who was held to a shock draw by Georgian International Master Nino Batsiashjvili in the first round before stringing together two wins over Indian GM Chithambaram Aravindh and Russian IM Daniil Yufa.
So will play Armenian GM Vladimir Akopian, who downed Indian GM Kidambi Sundararajan in one of the top fourth-round matches.
Giri has a reputation of playing draws, but in Qatar in 2014 he started with six wins, two losses, and won the final game. After three wins this year, he’s now live-rated world No. 2 with 2802.8, precisely matching his highest ever live rating.
In round two he played the Najdorf Sicilian against the talented Swedish Grandmaster Nils Grandelius, resisted an attack on his own king and then turned the tables with a beautiful little combination.
Giri opened his game 1.e3 to beat Polish No. 1 Radek Wojtaszek in the round three.
After the victory, Giri said crossing the 2800 barrier doesn’t necessarily mean a lot to him. “Nowadays there are a lot of players who have crossed the bar and stayed as world No. 2 for a while. Usually they tend to collapse sooner or later - I hope my fate will be different,” he said.
Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia played another draw with Daniele Vocaturo of Italy. Defending champion Yu Yangyi also shared points with Swiercz Dariusz.