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The game of tournament leader league Etienne Bacrot proved to be less than exciting. Playing the white side of a Spanish game with 6.d3 against Peter Leko, he followed his own game against Ernesto Inarkiev from the 2016 European Team Championship, through move 15. The always well-prepared Leko had to play a few precise moves, but generally had no trouble holding the balance.
David Navara had to lick his wounds after yesterday's defeat against Hou Hifan, standing at a disapointing 50% score, but instead Ponomariov poured salt in them:
When choosing an opening repertoire, there are days when you want to play for a win with Black, when you want to bear down on your opponent’s position with a potentially crushing attack. The Najdorf is perfect for just such occasions. Strategy, combinations, attack and defence, sacrifices and marvellous manoeuvres — exciting chess is all about the Najdorf!
Ponomariov dispatched Navara's Najdorf and moves into the upper tier of Bacrot's pursuers | Photo: Pascal Simon
The India vs. China matchup ended in favor of the former as Harikrishna leapfrogged Yifan to keep pace with Pono.
Harikrishna's timing was perfect, as the Chinese had to calculate some difficult variations just as the time control approached. After the sequence 37...hxg4 38.Qxg4 Ra8 39.h5 Kg7 40.hxg6 Hou was under pressure:
At this point both 40...Rf8 and 40...Rg8 hold the balance, but after the obvious move 40...fxg6, Harikrishna came up with 41.Qd7. The black king was now much more vulnerable than White's monarch, the and once Harikrishna's rook was able to join the attack, there was no hope for Hou.
Hari moves to 2nd place after today's win | Photo: Pascal Simon
Nico Georgiadis has played an outstanding tournament. Undefeated with one win, is an unexpected position for the young Swiss facing such tough opposition. Today he even had Alexander Morozevich under pressure. Morozevich sacrificed a pawn for some compensation but had to fight his way to a drawn queen ending.
Alexander Morozevich looking a bit flumoxed | Photo: Pascal Simon
An exciting game was played by Rafael Vaganian and Noel Studer. Vaganian sacrificed an exchange for positional compensation in the center. In a confusing endgame, Vaganian's connected passed c- and d-pawns raced against Studer's passed h-pawn, and in the end, as often happens in these games, a single move decided:
A hard defeat for Studer, his third straight loss as he fades to clear last place.
Live commentary by GMs Danny King and Joe Gallagher
