MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So scored back-to-back wins after beating Dutch GM Dimitri Reinderman in the 72nd Corus International Chess Championship Group B at the De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands.

So triumphed using the white pieces after 36 moves of a Dutch Leningrad defense in Saturday’s 7th round.

The 16-year-old So improved to a total of 4.5 points to share 2nd to 5th places with Chinese GM Ni Hua, Dutch GM Erwin l' Ami and British GM David Howell.

1996 Philippine Junior champion NM Roberto Suelo Jr., the first trainer of So, added that the battle waged on the queenside with So producing an advantageous endgame position with a passed pawn on the a file with his queen, rook and two bishops versus Reiderman’s Queen and two rooks. The game ended with So’s white square bishop skewering the Dutch GM’s rooks.

So earlier brought down Romanian GM Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu with the black pieces after 35 moves of Reti Opening in Friday's sixth round after 5 traight draws in the 13 round-robin tournament.

The chess whiz kid’s stint in the Corus B tournament is being supported by National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) president and chairman Prospero “Butch” Pichay, Jr. and Filway Marketing Inc. CEO and president Hector “Chito” Tagaysay.

Meanwhile, overnight solo leader Dutch GM Anish Giri still leads the field with 5.5 points after settling a draw against countryman Ami after 61 moves of Catalan Opening. – by Marlon Bernardino

Corus Group B standings tighten up after Round 7:

Anish Giri – 5.5 points
Ni Hua, David Howell, Wesley So, Erwin l'Ami – 4.5 points
Arkadij Naiditsch, Pentala Harikrishna – 4 points
Parimarjan Negi – 3.5 points
Emil Sutovsky – 3 points
Tomi Nyback, Anna Muzychuk, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu – 2.5 points
Varuzhan Akobian – 2 points
Dimitri Reinderman – 1.5 points