Fier bluffs Bluebaum
Brazillian GM Alexander Fier turned things around and beat Germany no.1 Matthias Bluebaum in Round 7 to register his first victory of the tournament. He achieved this by bluffing an exchange variation and the German didn't call his bluff, instead he made a couple of inaccuracies in the next couple of moves which allowed Fier to gain huge advantage and eventually a full point. Donchenko was the only other victory in the round when he beat GM Pier Luigi Basso to take his point to 5.5/7, gaining a full point and a half lead. IM Leon Mendonca Luke made a short draw in just 23 moves against IM Ashot Parvanyan and GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen held GM Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu to a hard-fought draw.
Parvanyan - Leon 0.5-0.5
Leon Mendonca had an uneventful 23-move short draw with IM Ashot Parvanyan.
Fier - Bluebaum 1-0
Despite having a forgettable event so far, Fier bluffed Bluebaum which eventually paid off handsomely for him.
White's offer of an exchange sacrifice with 20.Re5 is just a bluff as after 20...Bxe5 21.dxe5 black has Ne4 and if white recaptures with 21.Rxe5, it's not at all as menacing as white wants it to be. Fortunately for Fier, Bluebaum didn't call his bluff and continued with 20...a6 and after a couple of moves white got the initiative and eventually the upper hand and the full point.
Replay Round 7 games
Round 7 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | ||||
| 1 | 4 | 2658 | GM | Donchenko Alexander | 1 - 0 | GM | Basso Pier Luigi | 2570 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 5 | 2588 | GM | Keymer Vincent | IM | Dardha Daniel | 2468 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 6 | 2451 | IM | Parvanyan Ashot | ½ - ½ | IM | Mendonca Leon Luke | 2499 | 2 | ||
| 4 | 7 | 2562 | GM | Fier Alexandr | 1 - 0 | GM | Blübaum Matthias | 2672 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 8 | 2571 | GM | Nguyen Thai Dai Van | ½ - ½ | GM | Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter | 2657 | 9 |
Prizes
| Rank | Prize |
| 1st | 2500 |
| 2nd | 2000 |
| 3rd | 1500 |
| 4th | 1000 |
| 5th | 500 |
Total Prize fund is €7500.
Schedule
31st October - 7th November - 7:30 p.m. IST
8th November - 3:30 p.m. IST
