Grandmaster Wesley So settled for a draw against Russian GM Vladimir Malakhov during their round of 16 match in the World Cup of Chess. The second game will be played this Wednesday.

KHANTY-Mansiysk, Russia — Grandmaster Wesley So battled Russian Vladimir Malakhov to a fighting 65-move draw at the start of their two-game series in the Round of 16 of the 2009 World Chess Cup Monday at the Khanty-Mansiysk Center of Arts here.

The 16-year-old prodigy, playing white, opened with d4 and Malakhov, as expected, employed the Slav-Gruenfeld defense, the same line favored by GMs Pete Svidler of Russia and Gata Kamsky of the United States.

The game proceeded along well-trodden path until Malakhov deviated, resulting in a fierce positional struggle.

“I thought Malakhov introduced a novelty,” said International Master Rolando Nolte who followed the game through the Internet.

So, enjoying space and more active bishops, applied pressure in the queenside, attacking black’s pawn formation, but Malakhov defended well, initiating a series of exchanges to simplify the position.

The game eventually came down to rook-and-pawn ending.

Both players agreed to a draw after exchanging the remaining pawns on the board. They will resume their match on Tuesday with Malakhov playing white.

Five other matches were drawn with Svidler and GM Shakh Mamedyarov accounting for the only victories recorded for the day.

Svidler punished the ultra-aggressive Alexei Shirov of Spain with the black pieces while Mamedyarov defeated Viktor Laznicka of Czechoslovakia.

The other drawn matches featured Max Vachier-Lagrave of France against Israel’s Boris Gelfand, Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan against Fabiano Caruana of Italy, Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine against Nikita Vitiugov of Russia, Etienne Bacrot of France against Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and Alexander Grischuk of Russia against Dmitry Jakovenko of Russia.

Meanwhile, GM Vassily Ivanchuk, who had earlier announced his retirement after his stunning defeat to So in the second round, said he will continue to play professional chess.

In a statement released by the chesspro website, Ivanchuk said: “I ask the forgiveness of my supporters, friends, colleagues in arms, and numerous chess lovers, for the emotional interview. I was very upset after losing, but am not in any circumstances planning to give up chess.”