Standings after seven rounds:

5.5 points  -- F. Caruana (Italy)
4 --  W. So (Philippines), K. Sasikiran (India), V. Laznicka (Czech Republic)
2  -- H. Yifan (China)
1.5 -- P. Negi (India)


NEW DELHI, India --  GM Wesley So  launched a  relentless kingside attack  with his queen  and  two  knights and eked  out a vengeful victory over GM Viktor Laznicka of the Czech Republic in the seventh round of the inaugural Airports Authority of  India (AAI) international   GM  chess  tournament  at the Safadarjung Airport here Wednesday.

With revenge on his mind,  So  gave the  higher-rated  Czech player  several uneasy moments in their Semi Slav game and emerged  from the opening skirmish with a clear advantage to score the quickest and most decisive win  so far  in the six-player, double-round competition  being  held in this  fast-growing  capital city.

It  was also  sweet revenge for So, who  lost to Laznicka in the second round last June  23.

The 17-year-old Filipino hero  from Bacoor,  who is still seeking his first major international title this year,  was threatening mate in one when the  23-year-old Czech champion accepted the inevitable in  31 moves.

In the final position, So had broken through Laznicka’s defense with his  queen lurking dangerously on  h6  and  two active knights roaming  in the fifth and sixth files.

“It was a long wait for a win after the first one in the first round. At that time I thought I had begun well. But then there was a loss to Viktor and then four draws,” So told  the official website.

“Winning after a gap felt very good. I finally managed  to get something substantial from the opening. In  the past games I was not able to make much headway. Maybe, I was not good enough. Maybe I was not well prepared for India. I came from Sweden and I had not spent much time,” added So, who also admitted the change in weather with  much cooler temperature changed his mood.

“When I looked out of the window during the game, it was raining for a while. I love the weather to be cool and it did change my mood,”explained So, currently the world’s No. 4 junior player.

Asked if it felt satisfying to avenge his second-round defeat at the hands of Laznicka,  the smiling Filipino added, “It is always nice to avenge a defeat, but I kept thinking  others were avenging their defeats against me.”

Experts who analyzed the game in Barangay Wesley  agreed that So played one of  his games this year.

Laznicka committed a mistake when he played c5 nstead of castling on the 17th move and made things even worse with his Kh8 on the 25th move.

Overall, the win  enabled So to move into a three-way tie for second to fourth places with Laznicka and GM Krishnan Sasikiran of India with four points in seven rounds.

The  three are one and half a points behind top seed GM Fabiano Caruana of Italy, who drew with Sasikiran in marathon  92 moves and seven hours to  keep the solo lead with 5.5 points with only three rounds left.

Women’s world champion Hou  Yifan of China  outdueled  GM Parimarjan Gei of India in 62 moves of the  Sicilian   Scheveningen variation to raise her score to two points.

Negi, who suffered his fourth straight defeat, dropped to the bottom with only 1.5 points.

On Thursday, So will play black against Negi in the eighth round.

Caruana will meet Hou and  Laznicka will battle Sasikiran in other matches.

It will be  So against  Hou,  Laznicka against Caruana and Sasikiran against Negi in the ninth round.

The tournament concludes Saturday with matches pitting Caruana against So,  Hou against  Sasikiran and  Negi against Laznicka.

At stake in the category 17 tournament  is US$ 8,000 to the champion.

The runner-up will receive US$ 6,000, the third placer $4,000, the fourth placer $3,000, the fifth placer $2,000 and the sixth placer $1,500.


The moves:

Round 7

W. So (Philippines) vs.  V.Laznicka (Czech Republic)
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 Nf6 7. e3 Nh5 8. Be5 Nd7 9. Be2 Nxe5 10. dxe5 g6 11. Bxh5 gxh5 12. O-O-O f6 13. e4 d4 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. Nf3 Bg4 16. Ne2 Qa5 17. Kb1 c5 18. Nf4 O-O 19. h3 Bd7 20. Nxh5 Rae8 21. Nd2 Bh4 22. f4 c4 23. g4 d3 24. Qc1 b5 25. f5 Kh8 26. Nf3 Bd8 27. Qh6 Rf7 28. f6 Rg8 29. Ne5 Be6 30. Nf4 Rxf6 31. Nxe6                               
1-0