Harikrishna leads in Paks, Groszpeter wins GM B

This tournament is being held in commemoration of the famous physicist György Marx, and is intended to give the most talented young local grandmasters an opportunity to gain experience. The main patron of the tournament is József Kovács, the director-general of Nuclear Power Plant Ltd. Paks. The venue is College of Paks, Dózsa György str. 95, Paks.

There are two tournaments: the main GM event is a double round robin event with six players, the GM B tournament is a ten player round robin. Time controls are 100 minutes for 40 moves + 50 minutes for 20 moves + 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with 30 seconds move increment from the first move. The "Sophia rule" is in effect: players can offer a draw in the first 40 moves only with arbiter's permission and in special cases.

Report after nine rounds

After round six it was Viktor Korchnoi who led the field with a score of 4.0/6 and a performance of 2687. In round seven he was defeated by Pentala Harikrishna, who took the lead which he still holds one round before the end of the tournament. He is being chased by the Hungarian GMs Csaba Balogh and Peter Acs. On Wednesday "Hari" plays Balogh with the black pieces, which could lead to a sharp fight.

Goodbye lead: Viktor Korchnoi handed it over Pentala Harikrishna (left) in round seven

Viktor Korchnoi stayed in joint second until round nine, when he lost somewhat traumatically to Ferenc Berkes, who had been languishing in second-last place.

A second traumatic loss for Viktor Korchnoi in round nine against Ferenc Berkes

Standings after nine rounds

Pentala Harikrishna, hiding behind the big digital watch, in his round nine draw against Hou Yifan

Local dual: Peter Acs vs Csaba Balogh in round nine (draw)

The GM B Tournament

The Grandmaster B tournament was won convincingly by Hungarian GM Attila Groszpeter, ahead of Romanian GM Vladislav Nevednichy and youthful Hungarian IM Krisztian Szabo.

Final standings

Sorted by size: Vladislav Nevbdnichy of Romania, Attila Groszpeter of Hungary (the winner) and 18-year-old IM Krisztian Szabo of Hungary

Attila Groszpeter vs Tania Sachdev in round one (result: 1-0 in 40 moves)

Maybe glasses will help? No such luck: Tania lost to Gabor Papp in 30 moves (round two)

Impressions of Paks

The Elizabeth Hotel Gallery

A view of the city

Horse chestnut trees on the riverside

Beautiful walks along the banks of the Danube, under horse cestnut trees

The river is rising