Grandmaster Wesley So held on to his lead after agreeing to a draw in the 12th and penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters 2017 yesterday in Wijk aan zee, Netherlands.
Playing white, So split the point with Chinese GM Yi Wei in 32 moves of a Queen’s Pawn game to hike his tally to 7.5 points on three wins and eight draws.
The draw cemented him on the solo top spot behind Yi, reigning world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway, and GM Levon Aronian of Armenia.
Carlsen and Aronian inched closer to So with victories over GM Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine and hometown bet GM Loek Van Wely, respectively.
The 23-year-old So needed to win the 13th and final round against Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi to secure the title.
Nepomniachtichi is currently tied at 10th to 12th places with 5 points after posting his sixth straight draw against GM Sergey Karjakin of Russia.