Fabiano Caruana has blazed into the lead at the AAI Grandmasters with an unbeaten 6.5 from 8 games. Sasikiran is in second with 5, ahead of Wesley So and Viktor Laznicka who are both on 4. Homeboy Negi is struggling at 2.5 and Hou Yifan is on 2 after starting with four losses. Caruana must be odds-on favourite with just two rounds left at the time of writing.
There have been just 7 draws so far, out of 24 games. All the players deserve praise for consistently pushing for wins. Caruana has been slightly lucky in that his opponents missed good chances in several games. But that's a function of the continuous pressure he's created.
Meanwhile, two very strong national championships concluded in the two largest successor states of the former USSR. Ruslan Ponomariov won the Ukrainian Chps in Kiev with a 2,853 rating performance and a score of 8.5 from 11 in a 12-player RR. Pavel Eljanov was second with 7.5. This had an average rating of 2650.
In Taganrog, Russia, Alexander Morozevich made a triumphant return after a hiatus forced by illness. The Russian Chps is a qualifier for the “Super Final” and very strong in itself, with a prize pool of euro 100,000.
Moro, whose rating had dropped to a “mere” 2,694 was fourth seed in the 62-player 11-round Swiss, where 26 players were rated above 2,600. He slogged through with a convincing 8 points, ahead of 2-3 placed Artyom Timofeev (7.5) and Alexander Galkin (7.5). Teenage prodigy Sanan Sjugirov was in a tie for 4-12 with 7 points after leading early on. The top three qualify for the super final.
The DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY, (Laznicka Vs Sasikiran, AAI Delhi 2011) is an interesting example of a speculative sacrifice. Black applies pressure via 20. - Rae8!? His only other option 20.-Nc3 21. Nxc3 dxc3+ 22. Nxc5 Nxc5 23. Qxc3 looks horrible, given gashes in the kingside. He must have been braced for this via home prep.
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Play continued 21. fxe4 Rxe5 22. Nxe5 Rxe5. Now, according to the engines, the best defence is the unlikely looking 23. Qd2!! d3+ 24. Kh1 exploiting the hanging Qd7. Instead, white played the logical but tactically weak 23. Kh1? Bxe424. Bxe4 Rxe4 25. Qd2 h6.
Black seems to be winning now. There are threats along the key c5-g1, a8-h1 diagonals as well as pressure from the d-pawn and rook. The Kt is also coming back into play. Play concluded 26. Rf2 Nb4 27. Rcf1 Re7 28. Rf6 Qd5+ 29. Rf3 g4. (29. Kg1 d3+ is as bad). 30. Rf5 gxf3! (0-1) A pretty finish - 31. Rxd5 fxe2 32. Rd8+ Kg7 is crushing since 33. Qe1 Nc2 is conclusive.