Not yet

Not yet. The taste of first win over GM Ehsan Maghami still eluded GM Wesley So after the Philippines' Numero Uno offered a truce following a 25-mover of a Caro-Kann Exchange variation in their Round 1 encounter in Aeroflot Open 2010 in Moscow, Russia.

The draw resulted in the +1-1=3 card between Maghami and So - in favor of Iran's Numero Uno.

Not yet, too. GM Darwin Laylo failed to avenge his previous loss to GM Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan after losing a game that was promising at the start. I am just a patzer, but I know of a basic chess principle saying that castling is supposed to make your King safe, right?

The draw inflicted -0.9 from Wesley's Elo rating, a slight pinch to his 2700-mark campaign - which is I think is the main reason of his Aeroflot participation - while the loss of Laylo resulted in -3.8 Elo point subtraction.

Round 2 coming up. Let's just hope and pray that the country's representatives produce decisive results.

Here are their Round 1 games:
JAVA REQUIRED





For the sake of those who don't have Java, here are the PGNs:

[Event "Aeroflot Open"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2010.02.09"]
[EventDate "2010.02.09"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Ghaem Maghami,E"]
[Black "W So"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2589"]
[BlackElo "2656"]
[PlyCount "50"]

1. c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 e6 7. c5 Be7 8.
Bb5 O-O 9. Nf3 Ne4 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 Bd7 12. Bd3 b6 13. cxb6 axb6 14.
Qc2 h6 15. Qd2 Bc8 16. Rfe1 g5 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 f6 19. Bg3 Bd6 20. c4
Bxg3 21. hxg3 Kg7 22. cxd5 Qxd5 23. Be4 Qa5 24. Qb2 Ra7 25. Re3 Bd7 1/2-1/2

[Event "Aeroflot Open"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2010.02.09"]
[EventDate "2010.02.09"]
[Round "1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "D Laylo"]
[Black "Rau Mamedov"]
[ECO "A42"]
[WhiteElo "2556"]
[BlackElo "2640"]
[PlyCount "52"]

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 e5 5. dxe5 Bxe5 6. Nf3 Bg7 7. Bg5 Bf6 8.
Be3 Nd7 9. Qd2 Bg7 10. O-O-O Ngf6 11. c5 Ng4 12. cxd6 Nxe3 13. Qxe3 cxd6
14. Nb5 O-O 15. Nxd6 Ne5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Nc4 Qc7 18. Kb1 Bg7 19. Be2 Be6
20. Na3 Rfc8 21. Rd2 Qa5 22. Rhd1 b5 23. Qg5 Rab8 24. Rd6 h6 25. Qd2 b4 26.
Rxe6 bxa3 0-1