MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Grandmaster (GM) Wesley So settled for another hard fought draw in the 7th round of the 43rd Biel International Chess Festival Young Grandmasters tournament in Biel, Switzerland on Monday.

The draw was settled with GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son of Vietnam after 26 moves of Slav Defense skirmish.

The Bacoor, Cavite native raised his total to 4 points to remain at 2nd spot behind solo leader Italian GM Fabio Caruana, So’s only tormentor, who scored 4.5 points in 7 outings.

Caruana settled a truce with GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands after 32 moves of Catalan.

In 8th round on Tuesday, the 16-year-old So will meet Giri with the black pieces.

Also with 4 points are GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, GM Evgeny Tomashevsky and GM Dmitry Andreikin of Russia, and GM Maxim Rodshtein of Israel.

The French GM split the point with Tomashevsky after 38 moves of Ruy Lopez Opening, Andreikin halved the point with Indian GM Parimarjan Negi after 28 moves of Sicilian Defense and Rodshtein drew with GM David Howell of England after 52 moves of Neo-Gruenfeld Defense. – by Marlon Bernardino