The King's Gambit, back rank mates, missed chances and a surprising leader. What a seventh round in the A-Open of the 51st International Dortmund Chess Days Festival!
It was only cosy in the game between IM Georgios Goumas and GM Frederik Svane on the second board. "I would have liked to get a real game, but my opponent knew his way around", said Svane after the game. Goumas went for a draw with White and got it in under an hour.
The first board, on the other hand, was a hard-fought affair. Top seed GM Anton Korobov and IM Nico Zwirs both had their chances, but in the end it also ended in a draw. On the fourth board, IM Konstantin Peyrer looked set to win for a long time. However, he lost the advantage in time trouble - the queens were exchanged, and thanks to a repetition of moves he got a draw against GM David Gavrilescu.
As the last game of the top group, IM Vadim Petrovskyi tried to utilise his extra pawn against GM Christopher Yoo. After time trouble, he managed to play the pawn breakthrough b3-b4, later followed by c4-c5, and won the game.
Afterwards he shared that he had been was puzzled by his opponent's opening choice. "After 8...0-0 9.g4! it's well known that I'm already better".
Petrovskiy now leads the field ahead of the final weekend. He is also likely to his second grandmaster norm in Dortmund.
Vadim Petrovskyi
There were also some extremely wild games in the chasing pack. On the sixth board, GM Luis Quesada started the game very aggressively with the King's Gambit. The opening choice created an interesting material imbalance. FM Nadav Zemach had a big advantage, but the game ultimately ended in perpetual check.
Things got curious on board 11, where FM Enis Zuferi tricked the experienced GM Rafael Vaganian and was suddenly completely winning after the time trouble. But then he made an incredible mistake with 47.Qxe4 (diagram) and Vaganian was able to create a mating net with 47...Qxf1+!
Two rounds to play, and the fight for the tournament win is completely. The action continues on Saturday at 3 pm local time!
| Rk. | Name | RtgI | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IM | Petrovskyi, Vadim | 2440 | 6 | 29,5 | |
| 2 | GM | Svane, Frederik | 2636 | 5,5 | 31 | |
| 3 | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2648 | 5,5 | 30,5 | |
| 4 | GM | Gavrilescu, David | 2534 | 5,5 | 30 | |
| 5 | GM | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 2579 | 5,5 | 29 | |
| 6 | IM | Peyrer, Konstantin | 2425 | 5,5 | 28,5 | |
| 7 | IM | Zwirs, Nico | 2467 | 5,5 | 27,5 | |
| 8 | IM | Gkoumas, Georgios | 2450 | 5,5 | 27 | |
| 9 | GM | Romanov, Evgeny | 2567 | 5,5 | 27 | |
| 10 | IM | Stalmach, Richard | 2443 | 5,5 | 26 | |
| 11 | GM | Vaganian, Rafael A | 2452 | 5,5 | 25,5 | |
| 12 | FM | Glöckler, Christian | 2289 | 5,5 | 23,5 | |
| 13 | GM | Quesada Perez, Luis Ernesto | 2576 | 5 | 29,5 | |
| 14 | GM | Yoo, Christopher Woojin | 2616 | 5 | 29 | |
| 15 | FM | Zemach, Nadav | 2384 | 5 | 28 | |
| 16 | GM | Sokolovsky, Yahli | 2522 | 5 | 26,5 | |
| 17 | IM | Kügel, Tobias | 2419 | 5 | 26 | |
| 18 | IM | Altini, Nicola | 2374 | 5 | 25,5 | |
| 19 | FM | Fiedorek, Michal | 2297 | 5 | 25 | |
| 20 | FM | Stelmaszyk, Nico | 2380 | 5 | 25 |
