The 54th Reggio Emilia is underway at Reggio Emilia, Italy, and runs from December 27, 2011 to January 6, 2012. The tournament is a six-player, double round-robin with ten rounds played at 50 moves for 100 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. January 1st is a rest day. Games start at 3 PM Paris time (9 AM NY time).
By Martha Fierro, Augusto Caruso (accademia internazionale di scacchi) and Co.
It was a great round once more for the fans, who saw a flabbergasting third straight round in which every game had a decisive result.
Hikaru Nakamura is headed towards the most impressive victory
of his career and stands at 5.0/6 with a 3018 performance.
To win a tournament, you need a bit of everything, with luck and skill, especially when playing top opposition, and this round was one where the American showed great class, outplaying Vitiugov in a fine middlegame and endgame, in which the Russian never had an inkling of a chance. Hikaru alternated play on both wings and timed his breakthrough to perfection.
No, he is not praying, nor is he upset. As typical of top players,
Giri is visualizing in his mind and probably not aware the impression
a non-player might get from seeing this.
Anish Giri reached parity with a big scalp of his own, when he beat Vassily Ivanchuk after a strange middlegame in which the queens came off to a nightmarish pawn structure. Giri seemed to have little trouble converting his strategic advantage, and in the process ended the Ukrainian's dreams for first.
After a tough loss to Morozevich in round one, in which he had been winning before blundering it all in a single move, Caruana made the most of his second chance in this double round-robin, and beat the Russian in a complicated game. It was certainly a day for the youngsters who both beat prestigious players to come back to 50%.
Morozevich remains in clear second thanks to Ivanchuk's loss, but is now four points behind Nakamura.
Sopiko Guramishvili has a commanding lead of the women's tournament
In the female tournament Guramishvili won against our Marina, who later commented that she hadn't played as well as she normally does and missed chances to defend herself.
Marianna Chierici is the lowest rated player of the women's tournament, but is not last
Marianna Chierici failed to knock out Maria De Rosa, after putting her on the ropes, missing 37.Rxf7 followed by mate, and ended up drawing in time trouble.
Pictures by Martha Fierro
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 and get immediate access. Or you can get our latest Fritz 13 program, which includes six months free premium membership to Playchess. |
|
