The leadership board of the 7th Sunway Open at Sitges in Barcelona, Spain grew to three players after co-leaders Ivan Cheparinov and Jules Moussard drew their Round 9 game and Spain’s No. 7 player GM Jaime Santos Latasa ended top seed Anton Korobov’s quest with a crushing victory.
With just a round to go in the 10-round Swiss classic event, Cheparinov, Moussard and Latasa now each has seven points – half-a-point ahead of a ten-player group with 6½ points apiece and each eager to land in the money circle. These are GMs Nicolas Checa, Alexandr Fier, Matthieu Cornette, Karen Grigoryan, Vladislav Nevednichy, and IMs Hans Moke Niemann, Marc Andria Maurizzi, Christophe Sochacki, Leon Luke mendonca and Daniel Dardha.
So the final outcome at the top remains a toss-up, in as much as each of the players occupying the top 13 slots are mathematically capable of either winning or tying for the championship. The final round thus promises to be one helluva fight.
Cheparinov, I (2660)-Moussard, J (2626) [E10]
Sitges (9.1) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bd6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.0-0 Qd8 11.Qc2 Nd7 12.Rfd1 f5 13.e3 Qe7 14.Nh4 Qf7 15.f4 Nf6 16.Nf3 Ne4 17.c5 Bc7 18.b4 Bd7 19.Rdb1 b6 20.a4 Qe7 21.Ne5 Bxe5 22.dxe5 Rfb8 23.a5 bxc5 24.Nxe4 fxe4 25.bxc5 Bc8 26.Bf1 Qc7 27.Qa4 Kf7 28.Be2 Ke7 29.h4 Kd7 30.a6 Rxb1+ 31.Rxb1 Rb8 32.Rb4 Rxb4 33.Qxb4 Ke7 34.h5 Kd8 35.Kf2 Qe7 36.Kg2 Qc7 37.g4 Ke8 38.Kg3 Kd8 39.Qa4 Bd7 40.Qb4 Bc8 ½-½
Santos Latasa, J (2588)-Korobov, A (2693) [E71]
Sitges (9.2) 2020
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.d4 Bg7 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3 Nbd7 7.Nf3 e5 8.d5 Nc5 9.Nd2 a5 10.Be2 Ne8 11.g4 f5 12.g5 f4 13.Bxc5 dxc5 14.h4 Nd6 15.Bf3 Bd7 16.a4 c6 17.Qe2 Be8 18.Qd3 Bf7 19.Bg4 Qb6 20.b3 Rad8 21.Kf1 f3 22.Re1 Qb4 23.Rh3 h5 24.gxh6 Bxh6 25.Nxf3 Rfe8 26.h5 g5 27.Qc2 Kh8 28.Rg3 Re7 29.Kg2 Bg8 30.Bh3 cxd5 31.Nxd5 Bxd5 32.cxd5 Rf8 33.Re2 Rf4 34.Rg4 Kg7 35.Rxf4 gxf4 36.Be6 c4 37.bxc4 Nxc4 38.Qd3 Kf6 39.Nh2 Rg7+ 40.Ng4+ Ke7 41.Kf3 Rxg4 42.Bxg4 Nd6 43.Kg2 Qxa4 44.Qc3 Nc4 45.Rc2 b5 46.Be2 1-0
Narciso Dublan, M (2495)-Grigoryan, KH (2651) [E92]
Sitges (9.5) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.Nf3 d6 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 Na6 8.Nd2 Nd7 9.a3 f5 10.b4 Nf6 11.Nb3 Nxe4 12.Nxe4 fxe4 13.Be3 Bf5 14.c5 Nb8 15.0-0 Nd7 16.Rc1 Nf6 17.h3 Kh8 18.Na5 b6 19.Nc6 Qe8 20.Qd2 Qf7 21.Rfd1 Nh5 22.cxd6 cxd6 23.g4 Nf4 24.gxf5 Qxf5 25.Bf1 Nxh3+ 26.Bxh3 Qxh3 27.Qe2 Rf5 28.Qf1 Qh5 29.Qg2 Bh6 30.Bxh6 Qxh6 31.Rc3 Raf8 32.Rh3 Rh5 33.Rxh5 Qxh5 34.Re1 Rf5 35.Qxe4 Rf4 36.Qg2 Rg4 37.Re3 Rxg2+ 38.Kxg2 Qg4+ 39.Kh2 a6 40.Rc3 Qf4+ 41.Kg1 Qd2 0-1
Cornette, M (2558)-Martin Duque, J (2414) [B41]
Sitges (9.7) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0-0 Qc7 8.c4 Bc5 9.Nb3 Be7 10.c5 0-0 11.Bf4 e5 12.Bg5 d6 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.cxd6 Qd8 15.Nc3 a5 16.a4 Be6 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.Qxd5 Nb4 19.Qd2 Qb6 20.Bh3 Nc6 21.Qd5 Rfd8 22.d7 Ne7 23.Qb5 Qxb5 24.axb5 b6 25.Nd2 Ng6 26.Nc4 Rab8 27.Rfd1 Be7 28.Rd5 f6 29.Nd6 Nf8 30.Nc8 Kf7 31.Rc1 Rb7 32.Rc6 Nxd7 33.Bxd7 Rdxd7 34.Nxb6 Rxd5 35.Nxd5 Bd8 36.b6 Ke8 37.Rd6 Rd7 38.Re6+ Kf7 39.Rc6 Rb7 40.Kf1 Ke8 41.Rd6 Rb8 42.Ke2 Rc8 43.b3 h5 44.h3 Rb8 45.Kd3 Rc8 46.g4 hxg4 47.hxg4 Ra8 48.Nc7+ 1-0
Niemann, HM (2478)-Maze, S (2557) [E47]
Sitges (9.8) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 b6 6.Nge2 Bb7 7.a3 Be7 8.e4 d6 9.0-0 c5 10.d5 e5 11.Ng3 Ne8 12.Nf5 Bf6 13.g3 Bc8 14.h4 g6 15.Nh6+ Kh8 16.Kg2 Bg7 17.h5 g5 18.Ng4 Qd7 19.f3 h6 20.Rh1 a6 21.Ne3 Nc7 22.Na4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…dxe6 2.Qf4#; 1…Kxe6 2.Qd5#; 1…Be4 2.Qxe4#./PN
