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Ian Nepomniachtchi has fought his way to the top of the ladder, and is now sole leader with 6.5/8
It was a pleasure to see the investment and effort to organize such a prominent event in Israel pay off dividends for the local chess players as several Israeli juniors were the local heroes of the round. Following a sensational round seven victory over the Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan, young Ohad Kraus (2190 FIDE) obtained a winning position once again against a strong grandmaster. It was Robin van Kampen this time who being a pawn down for practically nothing he rushed to offer a draw which was accepted. One would think it was due to the huge rating gap between the two, however Kraus, an orthodox believer explained that it was a fasting day yesterday and he actually hadn’t eaten anything since the day before. His overloaded dinner plate after the round showed indeed that he was pretty hungry. Robin later said, “The draw offer was definitely my best move in this game.”
Vladimir Akopian is well-positioned to earn a World Cup qualifying seat with 5.5/8
Grzegorz Gajewski on the other hand will need a strong finish to qualify
Still, the great local hero of round eight was fourteen-year-old David Gorodetzky (2210 FIDE) who beat a grandmaster. Earlier in the tournament he had downed Dan Zoler and here he defeated Arthur Kogan in just 23 moves.
18-year-old Daniil Dubov is in contention at no.24, and all will depend on how he handles the end
David Navara also struck gold, moving into the group just behind the leader, when he beat Robert Kempinski in the Polish player's pet line.
For local players such as FM Kantarji Pinchas (2420) from Israel the event is a golden
opportunity, and as he has had a very respectable tournament so far with 4.5/8 and
a 2532 performance, an IM title seems in the cards.
The wizards behind 60 live boards broadcast and followed around the world
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Rk
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SNo
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Ti.
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Name
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FED
|
Rtg
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Pts
|
TB
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| 1 | 4 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | RUS | 2714 | 6.5 | 2626 |
| 2 | 11 | GM | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2687 | 6.0 | 2648 |
| 3 | 37 | GM | Najer Evgeniy | RUS | 2634 | 6.0 | 2624 |
| 4 | 1 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2735 | 6.0 | 2623 |
| 5 | 22 | GM | Motylev Alexander | RUS | 2665 | 6.0 | 2620 |
| 6 | 33 | GM | Volokitin Andrei | UKR | 2646 | 6.0 | 2602 |
| 7 | 20 | GM | Sargissian Gabriel | ARM | 2668 | 6.0 | 2601 |
| 8 | 30 | GM | Smirin Ilia | ISR | 2650 | 6.0 | 2581 |
| 9 | 128 | Iljiushenok Ilia | RUS | 2450 | 6.0 | 2571 | |
| 10 | 39 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2631 | 6.0 | 2566 |
| 11 | 26 | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | ISR | 2660 | 6.0 | 2547 |
| 12 | 35 | GM | Popov Ivan | RUS | 2639 | 6.0 | 2539 |
| 13 | 27 | GM | Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter | GER | 2654 | 6.0 | 2537 |
| 14 | 28 | GM | Khismatullin Denis | RUS | 2653 | 6.0 | 2522 |
| 15 | 65 | GM | Shimanov Aleksandr | RUS | 2594 | 5.5 | 2620 |
| 16 | 3 | GM | Eljanov Pavel | UKR | 2727 | 5.5 | 2612 |
| 17 | 7 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | RUS | 2695 | 5.5 | 2605 |
| 18 | 8 | GM | Moiseenko Alexander | UKR | 2695 | 5.5 | 2603 |
| 19 | 13 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | RUS | 2678 | 5.5 | 2584 |
| 20 | 5 | GM | Bacrot Etienne | FRA | 2711 | 5.5 | 2581 |
Report by Yachanan Afek and Albert Silver
Photos by Yoav Nis
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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