WESLEY SO

MOSCOW, Russia — Grandmaster Wesley So made history by bagging the top junior award for the second straight year in the 2010 Aeroflot Open chess championships at the Hotel Gamma-Delta of the Ismailovo Tourist Complex here

So agreed to a quick draw with GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela with the black pieces after only 10 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted to finish in a tie for seventh to 19th places with 5.5 points on three wins, five draws and only one loss in the prestigious, nine-round tournament.

Overall, So finished in 11th place after the tiebreak – a big improvement from his last year’s performance where he finished only in a tie for 19th to 36th places with five points on three wins, four draws and two losses.

But the draw was also more than enough for the 16-year-old Filipino champion to bring home the coveted top junior trophy given to the highest-placed player 18 years old and below for the second year in a row.

In winning the junior plum, So beat out GMs Sanan Sjugirov of Russia and Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan, who closed out with 4.5 points, and GM Saleh Salem of the United Arab Emirates, who wound up with three points.