Bogdanovich remains unstoppable, Divya's dominant show

From neighbors to opponents: Little did they know that they will face each other in the penultimate round | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

The Ukrainian GM Bogdanovich was in a winning mood was shown with a choice of his unusual opening and then going for an attacking play. His opponent GM Sandro Mareco of Argentina was surprised to have found his Queen trapped at the center of the board on move no. 34

It is definitely difficult to fathom that a Queen got trapped at the center of the board in a top board game. Bogdanovich was of course not surprised, because he made his intentions clear long back in the opening.

When Wang Hao plays 11.Rxa4, it is safe to say that he has win only in his mind.

Wang Hao played an attacking game since the beginning. Although he might not have got any substantial advantage immediately, but in the endgame he capitalized on Van Wely mistake of a mistimed Knight exchange.

It is true that Hao has an advantage, but 35...Ne5 only accelerated white's win

Notice the tattoo on Iturrizaga's right arm? He had no intention of losing today so he made a quick 22-move draw | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

It was not Leon's day today as he lost against GM Ivan Popov after a 4.5+ hours long grueling battle | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Leon managed to equalize with the Black pieces out of the opening in Sicilian Dragon against GM Ivan Popov. However he blundered a pawn in a Double Rook and many pawns endgame which proved to be fatal.

Undoubtedly it is a difficult position to play in time pressure. So what is the correct square for the Black King?

WIM Divya Deshmukh defeated her first GM of the tournament Tu Hoang Thong | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Yesterday she held her nerve in time pressure and managed to salvage a draw in Rook and Opposite Color Bishop along a connected passed pawns against IM Liu Xiangyi of Singapore.

Final moments of the game betweeen Divya and Liu Xiangyi | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Round 7 results:

Bo.No. NameTypFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameTypFEDRtg No.
113GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR25365½1 - 05GMMareco SandroARG26664
21GMWang HaoCHN271851 - 05GMVan Wely LoekNED26127
35GMNguyen Ngoc Truong SonVIE26474½½ - ½5GMIturrizaga Bonelli EduardoVEN26396
431IMLiu GuanchuCHN24454½½ - ½4½GMPredke AlexandrRUS26118
59GMWen YangCHN25994½1 - 04½GMNguyen Anh DungVIE245826
611GMPopov IvanRUS25814½1 - 04½CMMendonca Leon LukeU16IND244630
735Zhao YuanheCHN24314½1 - 04½GMTran Tuan MinhVIE255612
853GMCao SangVIE23854½1 - 04½GMKarthik VenkataramanIND249420
955IMPham ChuongVIE23834½0 - 14GMDemchenko AntonRUS26783
1049FMHoang Canh HuanVIE239441 - 04GMCheparinov IvanGEO26832
1115IMGukesh DU16IND252941 - 04FMSetyaki Azarya JodiINA237858
1218IMXu YiCHN252041 - 04Tran Quoc DungVIE237660
1361IMPham Le Thao NguyenVIE23744½ - ½4FMNasanjargal UrtnasanMGL250319
1462IMChu Wei ChaoCHN23734½ - ½4IMNguyen Anh KhoiVIE248424
1570IMRaghunandan Kaumandur SrihariIND235241 - 04IMShyaamnikhil PIND242937
1640GMLaxman R.R.IND24254½ - ½4WIMNandhidhaa P VIND2240100
1765Wang Shixu BCHN23623½1 - 03½GMChanda SandipanIND253414
1866IMRathnakaran K.IND23613½0 - 13½GMMegaranto SusantoINA252616
1967IMFenil ShahIND23603½½ - ½3½Chen Qi BCHN244332
2069IMVo Thanh NinhVIE23583½½ - ½3½Li YankaiCHN243434

 

Round 8 pairings:

Round 8 on 2019/03/12 at 09:30

Bo.No. NameTypFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameTypFEDRtg No.
11
GMWang HaoCHN271866½GMBogdanovich StanislavUKR2536
13
26
GMIturrizaga Bonelli EduardoVEN26395½5½GMPopov IvanRUS2581
11
335
Zhao YuanheCHN24315½5½GMWen YangCHN2599
9
47
GMVan Wely LoekNED261255½GMCao SangVIE2385
53
53
GMDemchenko AntonRUS267855IMGukesh DU16IND2529
15
64
GMMareco SandroARG266655IMLiu GuanchuCHN2445
31
75
GMNguyen Ngoc Truong SonVIE264755IMXu YiCHN2520
18
88
GMPredke AlexandrRUS261155FMHoang Canh HuanVIE2394
49
912
GMTran Tuan MinhVIE25564½5IMRaghunandan Kaumandur SrihariIND2352
70
1016
GMMegaranto SusantoINA25264½4½IMNitin S.IND2408
46
11100
WIMNandhidhaa P VIND22404½4½FMNasanjargal UrtnasanMGL2503
19
1220
GMKarthik VenkataramanIND24944½4½IMRahul Srivatshav PIND2400
47
1324
IMNguyen Anh KhoiVIE24844½4½IMPham ChuongVIE2383
55
1426
GMNguyen Anh DungVIE24584½4½IMChu Wei ChaoCHN2373
62
1530
CMMendonca Leon LukeU16IND24464½4½Wang Shixu BCHN2362
65
1638
IMNguyen Van HuyVIE24284½4½FMPranesh MU16IND2309
79
1761
IMPham Le Thao NguyenVIE23744½4½GMLaxman R.R.IND2425
40
1841
IMBulmaga IrinaROU24244½4½IMMiciano John MarvinPHI2317
76
1945
IMLe Quang LongVIE24124½4½Xu MinghuiCHN2293
86
202
GMCheparinov IvanGEO268344FMNguyen Dang Hong PhucVIE2376
59