Sunway Sitges Open R8: Cheparinov and Moussard share the lead with 6.5/8

by Shahid Ahmed - 22/12/2020

Cheparinov and Moussard are the only two players among the leaders to have won the game and maintain their lead with 6.5/8 in VII Sunway Sitges Open. They will now face each other in the penultimate round. Korobov was held to a draw by Checa. Leon turned around a difficult position to a favorable endgame and win it. He will now face his GM of the event Nino Batsiashvili in Round 9. Souhardo beat IM Garriga and he will go against IM Yovann Gatineau. Defending champion Korobov still has mathematical chances to retain his title. Round 9 will start tonight from 7:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Korobov stays in the hunt

GMs Ivan Cheparinov and Jules Moussard broke out of the pack of eight leaders and became the joint leaders at the end of Round 8 with 6.5 points. They will now face each other in the penultimate round. Top seed and defending champion Anton Korobov was held to a draw by Nicolas Checa. Leon Mendonca turned things around and beat Lin Yingrui and Souhardo Basak beat IM Pere Garriga Cazorla. They are now at 5.5 and 5 points each respectively. Shubham Bandikatte beat Antoni Gallego Montes to move to 6.0/8 in Group B.

Cheparinov - Niemann: 1-0

Cheparinov got a good position in the middlegame. He could have increased his advantage a bit earlier than the game.

Cheparinov - Niemann

Position after 31...Re5

There is an interesting continuation for white after 31...Re5. Can you find it?

Position after 38.Nf4

It is time for black to take advantage after 38.Nf4. How can he do so? Black missed this final opportunity and eventually liquidated into a lost Rook and Pawn endgame.

Cheparinov beats Niemann to take shared lead | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Moussard - Nevednichy: 1-0

GM Jules Moussard made a positional squeeze against GM Vladislav Nevednichy and converted his advantage comfortably to score a convincing win.

Moussard - Nevednichy

Position after 24...Ng8

It is evident that white is much better here. Can you think like Moussard? Find out the best continuation for white after 24...Ng8

Position after 31...Ke7

The position is winning for white. Can you find a spectacular finish here?

Korobov - Checa: 0.5-0.5

Korobov had an uneventful draw with Checa where more than half of the game was a same color bishop ending which Korobov defended well to salvage a draw.

Korobov loses the lead but still he is in the hunt | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Leon - Lin: 1-0

Leon got into trouble in the middlegame as he missed his opponent tactics.

Leon - Lin

Position after 35.f6

Find out why 35.f6 is a mistake.

Position after 58...Rg3

What should be the winning plan for white after 58...Rg3 ? Leon found it and completely turned things around from a difficult position in the middlegame.

Leon turned things around and won the game | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Pere - Souhardo: 0-1

Souhardo survived the endgame well and eventually his opponent IM Pere Garriga Cazorla blundered his knight and lost the game.

Replay Round 8 games

Round 8 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Korobov Anton	2693	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Checa Nicolas	2527	18
2	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2660	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Niemann Hans Moke	2478	24
3	5	GM	Moussard Jules	2626	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	2546	13
4	12	GM	Fier Alexandr	2549	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2588	6
5	21	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2495	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2651	4
6	69		Lever Erwan	2200	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	2581	7
7	10	GM	Maze Sebastien	2557	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Dardha Daniel	2485	23
8	26	IM	Sochacki Christophe	2469	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Plat Vojtech	2552	11
9	20	GM	Flom Gabriel	2499	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	2466	27
10	3	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.	2651	4½	1 - 0	5	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2459	29
11	37	IM	Vlachos Anatole	2413	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Cornette Matthieu	2558	9
12	15	GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel	2542	4½	1 - 0	4½	IM	Valenzuela Gomez Fernando	2390	41
13	16	IM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2530	4½	1 - 0	4½		Lin Yingrui	2387	42
14	40	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard	2400	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Bellahcene Bilel	2510	19
15	28	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2466	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Garcia Ramos Daniel	2380	43
16	58	FM	Jimenez Ruano Adrian	2279	4½	0 - 1	4½	IM	Maurizzi Marc Andria	2445	30
17	52	FM	Msellek Ilyass	2316	4½	½ - ½	4½	IM	Gines Esteo Pedro Antonio	2437	31
18	36	IM	Martin Duque Jesus	2414	4½	1 - 0	4½	FM	Carbonell Sancho Marc	2318	51
19	14	GM	Krysa Leandro	2544	4	1 - 0	4½	FM	Boyer Mahel	2307	53
20	17	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2528	4	1 - 0	4		Dalaud Dorian	2291	55
21	22	IM	Garriga Cazorla Pere	2487	4	0 - 1	4		Souhardo Basak	2276	59
22	50	FM	Esplugas Esteve Vicenc	2319	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Asis Gargatagli Hipolito	2470	25
23	32	GM	Siebrecht Sebastian	2429	4	½ - ½	4		Ortega Serra Marc	2288	57
24	60	IM	Hernando Rodrigo Julio Antonio	2275	4	0 - 1	4	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2424	33
25	34	IM	Gatineau Yovann	2423	4	1 - 0	4	FM	Exposito Amaro Josue	2273	61

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

13th - 20th December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

21st and 22nd December - 7:30 p.m. IST

23rd December - 1:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

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