Hans Niemann has a 3-point lead going into the final weekend of his match against Nikita Vitiugov taking place at the Gem Fitzrovia Hotel in London. Classical games with a 90+30 games were played from Wednesday to Friday (2 per day), with Niemann prevailing in the one encounter that ended decisively.
The classical games in this series grant 3 points for a win, while each rapid game grants 2 points and each blitz game grants a single point. The rapid section (6 games) will be played on Saturday, starting at 19.00 CEST, while the blitz segment (12 games) will take place on Sunday, starting at the same time.
After getting ahead on the scoreboard on Wednesday, Niemann went on to keep his lead by drawing the remaining 5 encounters. On two occasions, though, he was the one with an extra pawn in technical endgames. In game 3, he had a 3 v. 2 advantage in an endgame with knight and bishop against two bishops.
Niemann kept trying to provoke a mistake by his opponent, but Vitiugov did not falter, and the draw was signed on move 67.
Game 6 was much longer. The following position was reached by move 44...
...and the contenders only signed the draw after Niemann - who kept looking for chances to break through with his extra pawn - played his 107th move!
Nikita Vitiugov | Photo: Frans Peeters
