GMs Jules Moussard and Ivan Cheparinov broke away from an eight-man leaderboard and came out joint leaders after Round 8 of the 7th Sunway Open being held at Sitges in Barcelona, Spain.
Moussard mauled GM Vladislav Nevednichy in 40 moves of a Sicilian Kan while Cheparinov subdued IM Hans Moke Niemann in a marathon Chebanenko Slav that lasted all of 93 moves. Both raised their points total to 6½ points with two rounds to go. Trailing them is a five-player pack just half-a-point behind. These are GMs Nicolas Checa, Jaime Santos Latasa, Anton Korobov, Alexandr Fier and IM Christophe Sochacki who have 6 points apiece. A logjam of 18 players with 5½ points each and sharing eight to 25th places are also in hot pursuit to land in the money circle. These include third seed GM Karen Grigoryan and fourth seed GM Maxime Lagarde.
Cheparinov, I (2660)-Niemann, HM (2478) [D30]
Sitges (8.2) 2020
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.h3 Bd6 9.Bd3 c6 10.Bf4 Qb8 11.Bxd6 Qxd6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Rc1 a5 14.Qc2 g6 15.Rfe1 Rfe8 16.a3 Nb6 17.Ne5 Nfd7 18.f4 f6 19.Nf3 Bf7 20.f5 Kg7 21.Qf2 Re7 22.Ne2 g5 23.Ng3 Rae8 24.Rcd1 h6 25.h4 g4 26.Nh2 h5 27.Nhf1 c5 28.Ne2 cxd4 29.Nxd4 Nc5 30.Ng3 Nxd3 31.Rxd3 Re5 32.Nde2 Nc4 33.Nf4 Qc5 34.b3 Nxe3 35.Ne6+ Bxe6 36.Nxh5+ Kf7 37.Rexe3 Rxf5 38.Nf4 Qc1+ 39.Kh2 Rg8 40.Qg3 Rxf4 41.Rc3 Qf1 42.Rc7+ Kg6 43.Rxe6 Rd4 44.Rxb7 Qf5 45.Rbb6 Rf8 46.Re5 Qf4 47.Qxf4 Rxf4 48.Rxd5 a4 49.Kg3 Re4 50.Rg5+ Kh6 51.Rxg4 Re3+ 52.Kf2 Rxb3 53.Rxb3 axb3 54.Rb4 Kh5 55.Kg3 Ra8 56.Rxb3 Ra4 57.Rf3 Kg6 58.Kh3 f5 59.g3 Ra5 60.Kg2 Ra4 61.Rb3 Kh6 62.Rf3 Kg6 63.Kf2 Ra5 64.Ke2 Kh5 65.a4 Kg4 66.Ra3 f4 67.gxf4 Kxf4 68.Kd3 Ke5 69.Kc4 Kd6 70.Rd3+ Kc6 71.Kb4 Rh5 72.Rd4 Kb6 73.Kc4 Kc6 74.Kd3 Kc5 75.Rc4+ Kd6 76.Rd4+ Kc5 77.Ke3 Rh8 78.a5 Kb5 79.Kf3 Kxa5 80.Kg4 Kb6 81.h5 Kc5 82.Rd7 Kc6 83.Rg7 Kd6 84.Kg5 Re8 85.h6 Re5+ 86.Kg6 Re6+ 87.Kh5 Re1 88.h7 Rh1+ 89.Kg6 Ke6 90.Ra7 Rg1+ 91.Kh6 Rh1+ 92.Kg7 Rg1+ 93.Kf8 Kd5 1-0
Moussard, J (2626)-Nevednichy, V (2546) [B42]
Sitges (8.3) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.Qe2 Nc6 8.Be3 d6 9.0-0 Nf6 10.c4 Bxe3 11.Qxe3 e5 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Rfd1 Be6 14.Be2 Qb8 15.Rd2 Rd8 16.Rad1 h6 17.h3 b6 18.Kh2 Ra7 19.g3 Kf8 20.f4 exf4 21.gxf4 Re7 22.Qg3 b5 23.Rg1 g6 24.Qh4 Ng8 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.cxd5 Na7 27.Bf3 Rde8 28.Nd4 Qd8 29.Rdg2 Rd7 30.Qxd8 Rdxd8 31.Ne6+ Ke7 32.Nxd8 Kxd8 33.Rc1 h5 34.Rgc2 Re7 35.e5 Nh6 36.exd6 Rd7 37.Rc7 Rxc7 38.dxc7+ Kc8 39.d6 Nf5 40.Bb7+ 1-0
Fier, A (2549)-Santos Latasa, J (2588) [C80]
Sitges (8.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 d4 11.Bxe6 Nxe6 12.cxd4 Ncxd4 13.a4 Bb4 14.axb5 Nxb5 15.Nc4 0-0 16.Be3 a5 17.Qc2 Qd5 18.Rfc1 h6 19.Qf5 Rfd8 20.Qg4 Kh8 21.h3 Qd3 22.Kh1 Kh7 23.Kh2 Qg6 24.Qxg6+ Kxg6 25.Rd1 Rxd1 26.Rxd1 a4 27.Rd7 Rd8 28.Nh4+ Kh7 29.Rxf7 Nbd4 30.Nf5 Nc2 31.Nxg7 Nxg7 32.Rxc7 Re8 33.f4 Re7 34.Rc8 Re8 35.Rxe8 Nxe8 36.Bf2 Nc7 37.Nb6 Ne6 38.f5 ½-½
Sochacki, C (2469)-Plat, V (2552) [C41]
Sitges (8.8) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Bf4 c6 7.Qd2 b5 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 b4 10.Nce2 c5 11.Nf3 d5 12.exd5 Qxd5 13.c4 bxc3 14.Nxc3 Qb7 15.Rfe1 Rd8 16.Qc2 Nc6 17.Ng5 Rd4 18.Bxh7+ Kf8 19.Be3 Rh4 20.Nce4 Nxh7 21.Nxh7+ Kg8 22.Nhg5 Nb4 23.Qc4 Be6 24.Nf6+ gxf6 25.Qxh4 fxg5 26.Bxg5 Nd5 27.Rad1 Rb8 28.Rxd5 Qxd5 29.Bxe7 Rb4 30.Qf6 Rg4 31.g3 Rd4 32.Qg5+ Qxg5 33.Bxg5 Bxa2 34.Be3 Rb4 35.Bxc5 Rxb2 36.Bxa7 Rb1 37.Rxb1 Bxb1 38.g4 Be4 39.h3 f5 40.Kh2 fxg4 41.hxg4 Kg7 42.Kg3 Kg6 43.f4 Bc2 44.Bb6 Bb1 45.Bd8 Bc2 46.Kf2 Bd3 47.Ke3 Bc2 48.Kd4 1-0
Grigoryan, KH (2651)-Vasquez Schroeder, R (2459) [E20]
Sitges (8.10) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.cxd5 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Bxd5 10.Ba3 Re8 11.Rc1 Nbd7 12.c4 Be4 13.Qb3 c5 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.d5 exd5 16.cxd5 Qd6 17.Bb2 a6 18.Nh4 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Rxe2 20.Nf5 Qc7 21.Kg1 Rae8 22.Ne7+ Kf8 23.d6 Qb7 24.Re1 Qe4 25.Qc3 b5 26.Rxe2 Qxe2 27.Re1 Qh5 28.Qe3 Ra8 29.Bxf6 Nxf6 30.Nc6 Qh3 31.Qe7+ Kg8 32.Nd8 h6 33.Qxf7+ Kh8 34.Ne6 Rg8 35.d7 Ng4 36.Qxg8+ Kxg8 37.d8Q+ Kh7 38.Qh4 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rc7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…b5 2.Qc6#; 1…Kxe4 2.Qd3#; 1…fxe4 2.Qb5#; 1…Bb1/c4 2.Q(x)c4#; 1…g1=Q/B 2.Rd6#./PN
