European Ch: Second half, still four leaders

3/26/2019 – Maxim Rodshtein and Kacper Piorun were the leading duo after five rounds but a draw in their head-to-head in the sixth round allowed Nils Grandelius and Andrey Esipenko (pictured arriving with Kirill Alekseenko) to catch up, so this quartet now sits atop the field of the European Championships in Skopje with 6 points. The 22 best players qualify for the World Cup. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analyses the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros

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Still wide open

We've passed the midpoint at the European Championships in Skopje. Seven rounds out of eleven have already been played. Two players have achieved five wins and a pair of draws — Maxim Rodshtein and Kacper Piorun — and two have managed the astounding feat of six wins (and a loss) each: Nils Grandelius and Andrey Esipensko. Eight players, including top seed Vladislav Artemiev are a half point behind with 5½. The group on 5 points reaches all the way down to 42nd place! This is a tough tournament! There's still plenty of time left for anyone in the top 40 or so to make a late surge.

Let's take a look at how the leaders got there.

The top board in Round 6: Rodshtein vs Alekseenko | Photo: Patricia Claros

In round six, the Israeli won against Kirill Alekseenko. Kacper Piorun defeated Ferenc Berkes. Rodshtein took on Alekseenko's Grünfeld defence, fianchetto variation, and gradually White gained the upper hand. The game between Piorun and Berkes ended up in a bishop vs knight endgame. GM Daniel Fernandez looks at these and other top games of the sixth round:

Click or tap a game in the list to switch

Winning against the Grünfeld

The Grünfeld is a highly dynamic opening in which Black's position often seems to hang together by a single thread; and yet, this apparently precarious equilibrium appears to be enough to make it entirely viable — up to the highest level.

Vladislav Artemiev kept up the pace with a win over David Paravyan by sacrificing an exchange in the endgame to create dangerous passed pawns.

The Russian 'Chuck Norris' pounced with 37.♖xd5 ♜xd5 38.♘xf6 ♜e5 39.♘xe8 and went on to prove the strength of his kingside passers.

Results of Round 6 (top 10)

The Art of the Positional Exchange Sacrifice

The positional exchange sacrifice is one of the most powerful and fascinating strategic weapons in chess. On this DVD Sergey Tiviakov explains why the positional exchange sacrifice is such a strong weapon and how to use it.

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	13	GM	Rodshtein Maxim	2673	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2644	26
2	37	GM	Piorun Kacper	2631	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2666	16
3	1	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2736	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Paravyan David	2627	42
4	39	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr	2629	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Dubov Daniil	2703	3
5	4	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2703	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Chigaev Maksim	2613	57
6	88	GM	Hracek Zbynek	2578	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Mamedov Rauf	2701	6
7	9	GM	Grandelius Nils	2694	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Erdos Viktor	2612	59
8	11	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2683	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Predke Alexandr	2611	63
9	21	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2658	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2603	69
10	23	GM	Gelfand Boris	2655	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Bartel Mateusz	2600	73

Commentary webcast

Commentary by GM Ivan Sokolov and GM Adrian Mikhalchishin | European Chess TV on YouTube

No draws Nils

After dropping his third round game to Sergei Azarov, the Swedish number one Nils Grandelius has won four games in a row. The Russian Alexandr Predke was the most recent victim. Grandelius is now sporting a 2864 performance rating.

For Andrey Esipenko, the winning streak stands at five games! In Monday's seventh round, the newly 17-year-old (born March 22, 2002) Esipenko took down Boris Gelfand on the white side of a Sveshnikov Sicilian. Both games, plus Mamedov-Azarov and the Piorun-Rodshtein draw are analysed below.

My best games in the Sveshnikov

The Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence is considered one of the most promising replies to 1.e4, often giving rise to sharp and complex positions which require precise and inventive play from both sides. Thus, an opening tailor-made for Alexei Shirov (FIDE World Cup finalist in 2007), who has included it into his repertoire with both White and Black and knows the mutual tricks and traps all too well.

Results of Round 7 (top 10)

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	37	GM	Piorun Kacper	2631	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Rodshtein Maxim	2673	13
2	38	GM	Gledura Benjamin	2630	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Artemiev Vladislav	2736	1
3	63	GM	Predke Alexandr	2611	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Grandelius Nils	2694	9
4	69	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2603	5	1 - 0	5	GM	Gelfand Boris	2655	23
5	88	GM	Hracek Zbynek	2578	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim	2642	29
6	3	GM	Dubov Daniil	2703	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Pantsulaia Levan	2611	62
7	80	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel	2590	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Kovalev Vladislav	2703	4
8	81	GM	Can Emre	2586	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Korobov Anton	2686	10
9	16	GM	Berkes Ferenc	2666	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Bindrich Falko	2610	64
10	26	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2644	4½	1 - 0	4½	GM	Zhigalko Sergei	2604	68

Standings after Round 7 (top 25)

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	Rp
1	13	GM	Rodshtein Maxim			2673	6,0	2597	29,5	2882
2	37	GM	Piorun Kacper			2631	6,0	2580	28,0	2862
3	9	GM	Grandelius Nils			2694	6,0	2575	27,0	2864
4	69	GM	Esipenko Andrey	U18		2603	6,0	2523	25,0	2805
5	80	GM	Ter-Sahakyan Samvel			2590	5,5	2612	26,5	2798
6	26	GM	Alekseenko Kirill			2644	5,5	2592	28,0	2795
7	88	GM	Hracek Zbynek			2578	5,5	2589	26,5	2772
8	1	GM	Artemiev Vladislav			2736	5,5	2587	30,5	2797
9	38	GM	Gledura Benjamin	U20		2630	5,5	2548	25,0	2753
10	28	GM	Anton Guijarro David			2643	5,5	2541	24,5	2751
11	29	GM	Zvjaginsev Vadim			2642	5,5	2539	27,0	2750
12	62	GM	Pantsulaia Levan			2611	5,5	2531	24,0	2735
13	124	GM	Van Foreest Lucas	U18		2515	5,0	2639	28,0	2731
14	82	GM	Azarov Sergei			2585	5,0	2631	31,0	2741
15	94	GM	Buhmann Rainer			2568	5,0	2610	27,5	2716
16	57	GM	Chigaev Maksim			2613	5,0	2605	28,5	2729
17	110	GM	Christiansen Johan-Sebastian			2539	5,0	2600	25,5	2703
18	16	GM	Berkes Ferenc			2666	5,0	2590	28,5	2724
19	11	GM	Cheparinov Ivan			2683	5,0	2589	27,0	2724
20	91	GM	Aleksandrov Aleksej			2574	5,0	2577	27,0	2689
21	23	GM	Gelfand Boris	S50		2655	5,0	2575	28,5	2710
22	39	GM	Rakhmanov Aleksandr			2629	5,0	2571	26,0	2703
23	42	GM	Paravyan David			2627	5,0	2567	26,5	2699
24	84	GM	Huzman Alexander	S50		2582	5,0	2561	24,0	2680
25	59	GM	Erdos Viktor			2612	5,0	2559	27,5	2688

All available games

Commentary by GM Ivan Sokolov and GM Adrian Mikhalchishin | European Chess TV on YouTube

Andre Schulz contributed reporting

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European Ch: Second half, still four leaders

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Still wide open

Results of Round 6 (top 10)

Commentary webcast

No draws Nils

Results of Round 7 (top 10)

Standings after Round 7 (top 25)

All available games

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