GM Wesley So won playing black against GM Hrant Melkumyam (ELO 2583) of Armenia after 39 moves of a Slav and bounced back into contention Saturday night.
Last Friday GM So (ELO 2656) beat GM Aleksandr Rakhmanov of Russia. The Filipino prodigy now has 3.5 points after five rounds and is only a half point behind Ngoc Truongson Nguyen, who beat So last Thursday, and Qiang Liem Le and Boris Gachev.
GM Darwin Laylo (2556) was not so fortunate and lost to Spanish grandmaster Josep Manu Lopez Martinez (ELO 2593).
