There are not many open events that Vassily Ivanchuk likes to play, but this is the second year in a row when he is back to the Sunway Sitges. The Ukrainian genius surely loves it out here! This year he made a slow start with two draws in first three rounds. But since then Ivanchuk has picked up speed and is on 5.0/6, beating two of India's biggest talents - Raunak Sadhwani and Praggnanandhaa in back to back rounds!
In round five Ivanchuk played a very clean game to beat India's latest GM Raunak Sadhwani.
The game began as a Sicilian and Pragg played 2...Nc6 hoping to go for the Sveshnikov. Ivanchuk didn't play 3.d4 and instead with 3.Nc3 steered the game into the Classical Sicilian territory. It is said that Ivanchuk was once upon a time so good with the openings, that he knew everything from A00 to E99. This was clearly on show against Pragg, as the youngster struggled to get a good position. His move d5, which usually is a strong one in the Sicilian, turned out to be an error.
Ivanchuk vs Praggnanandhaa, Round 6
Results of Round 6
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 3 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2668 | 5 | 1 - 0 | 5 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2626 | 13 | ||
| 2 | 25 | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | 2585 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Nasuta Grzegorz | 2545 | 33 | ||
| 3 | 35 | GM | Li Di | 2543 | 4½ | ½ - ½ | 4½ | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2580 | 26 | ||
| 4 | 1 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2690 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2586 | 24 | ||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2656 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Peralta Fernando | 2577 | 28 | ||
| 6 | 27 | GM | Wagner Dennis | 2578 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Lagarde Maxime | 2655 | 6 | ||
| 7 | 31 | GM | Gukesh D | 2547 | 4 | 0 - 1 | 4 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2647 | 8 | ||
| 8 | 32 | GM | Shevchenko Kirill | 2547 | 4 | ½ - ½ | 4 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2644 | 9 | ||
| 9 | 34 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2544 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | 2638 | 10 | ||
| 10 | 11 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | 2635 | 4 | 1 - 0 | 4 | GM | Narayanan Srinath | 2529 | 40 |
Standings after Round 6
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | Gr | FED | RtgI | RtgN | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 3 | GM | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2668 | 0 | 6,0 | 21,5 | 0 | 24,0 | |||||
| 2 | 11 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | IRI | 2635 | 0 | 5,0 | 21,5 | 0 | 24,0 | |||||
| 3 | 34 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | H16 | IND | 2544 | 0 | 5,0 | 20,0 | 0 | 22,5 | ||||
| 4 | 18 | GM | Durarbayli Vasif | AZE | 2609 | 0 | 5,0 | 19,5 | 0 | 22,5 | |||||
| 5 | 13 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | IND | 2626 | 0 | 5,0 | 19,5 | 0 | 22,5 | |||||
| 6 | 26 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | IND | 2580 | 0 | 5,0 | 19,5 | 0 | 22,0 | |||||
| 7 | 35 | GM | Li Di | H | CHN | 2543 | 0 | 5,0 | 19,5 | 0 | 22,0 | ||||
| 8 | 25 | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | ESP | 2585 | 2572 | Ext | 5,0 | 19,5 | 0 | 21,5 | ||||
| 9 | 21 | GM | Gareyev Timur | USA | 2598 | 0 | 5,0 | 19,0 | 0 | 22,0 | |||||
| 10 | 33 | GM | Nasuta Grzegorz | POL | 2545 | 0 | 5,0 | 19,0 | 0 | 21,5 |
Pairings of Round 7
| Bo. | No. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | Result | Pts. | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 1 | GM | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2690 | 5 | 6 | GM | Korobov Anton | 2668 | 3 | |||
| 2 | 8 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | 2647 | 5 | 5 | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | 2585 | 25 | |||
| 3 | 26 | GM | Puranik Abhimanyu | 2580 | 5 | 5 | GM | Tabatabaei M.Amin | 2635 | 11 | |||
| 4 | 13 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | 2626 | 5 | 5 | GM | Wagner Dennis | 2578 | 27 | |||
| 5 | 18 | GM | Durarbayli Vasif | 2609 | 5 | 5 | GM | Li Di | 2543 | 35 | |||
| 6 | 33 | GM | Nasuta Grzegorz | 2545 | 5 | 5 | GM | Gareyev Timur | 2598 | 21 | |||
| 7 | 12 | GM | Vocaturo Daniele | 2627 | 4½ | 5 | GM | Erigaisi Arjun | 2544 | 34 | |||
| 8 | 36 | GM | Harutyunian Tigran K. | 2540 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Sasikiran Krishnan | 2656 | 5 | |||
| 9 | 52 | GM | Sadzikowski Daniel | 2504 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Edouard Romain | 2653 | 7 | |||
| 10 | 9 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 2644 | 4½ | 4½ | GM | Moradiabadi Elshan | 2539 | 37 |
