No longer perfect

Five players from the top-20 in Group A of the Sunway Chess Festival only scored half points in Tuesday’s second round. Andrey Esipenko, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Gawain Jones, Manuel Petrosyan and Eltaj Safarli all drew in round 2.

Out of the five, only Esipenko was in real trouble of actually losing his game, though, as French FM Phileas Mathieu had an advantageous position in a queen and rook endgame but could not find the killer blow on move 54.

In this position, the most critical continuation is also the strongest, as 54...h2+ wins for Black. Mathieu went for 54...Re8 instead, protecting his e-pawn at once.

Giving the check from h2 first would be followed by 55.Kh1 and only then Black should go for 55...Re8, with the extra tempo gained the crucial factor in the ensuing lines — e.g. 56.Qxb7 e3 57.Qf3 (what else?) Qxf3 58.gxf3 e2 59.Re1 Kf5, and the black king joins the fun just in time.

Once the monarch gets to e3, it is game over. None of this appeared on the board, though, as Mathieu’s continuation led to a draw by perpetual check. It was a close shave for Esipenko, who will face Tukrish FM Umu Ata Akbas in round 3 — i.e. the player who held Gawain Jones to a draw, with the black pieces, on Tuesday.

Top pairings - Round 3

Bo.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg
1	GM	Yu Yangyi	2728	2		2	IM	Fernandez Guillen Ernesto J.	2462
2	GM	Firat Burak	2460	2		2	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2698
3	GM	Van Foreest Jorden	2690	2		2	IM	Sardana Rishi	2460
4	IM	Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan	2453	2		2	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2672
5	GM	Demchenko Anton	2632	2		2	GM	Raja Rithvik R	2453
6	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik	2447	2		2	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2620
7	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.	2619	2		2	GM	Goh Wei Ming Kevin	2452
8	IM	Nigmatov Ortik	2439	2		2	GM	Aryan Chopra	2618
9	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy	2617	2		2	IM	Garcia Ramos Daniel	2439
10	FM	Vitier Vazquez Cristian	2424	2		2	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2616
11	IM	Roberson Peter T	2418	2		2	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	2612
12	GM	Adhiban B.	2611	2		2	IM	Ajay Karthikeyan	2430
13	IM	Gholami Orimi Mahdi	2415	2		2	GM	Kollars Dmitrij	2610
14	GM	Aravindh Chithambaram Vr.	2607	2		2	IM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	2428
15	FM	Bai Adelard	2411	2		2	GM	Dardha Daniel	2606
16	GM	Sanal Vahap	2597	2		2	IM	Krastev Alexander	2416
17	IM	Tahay Alexis	2400	2		2	GM	Cheng Bobby	2583
18	GM	Kraemer Martin	2583	2		2	FM	Bilych Olexiy	2401
19	IM	Bournel Antoine	2392	2		2	GM	Svane Frederik	2568
20	IM	Salimova Nurgyul	2390	2		2	GM	Alsina Leal Daniel	2527

...161 boards

The Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation

Pavel Eljanov explains in depth what Gyula Breyer already saw in 1911 and what became an opening choice of the likes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand or Carlsen. The Breyer Variation, which is characterised by the knight retreat to b8.

In one of the many side events put forth by the organizers in Sitges, Anton Korobov grabbed a gold medal in the first blitz tournament of the festival. Daniel Dardha and André Ventura completed the podium.

GM Anton Korobov 🇺🇦🥇 wins the first blitz tournament of this year's @chessable #SunwaySitges Chess Festival ahead of GM Daniel Dardha 🇧🇪🥈 and IM André Ventura Sousa 🇵🇹🥉. Congratulations, and all the best for the rest of the classic tournament! pic.twitter.com/dd8Nb2PNNt
— Sunway Chess Festival (@SunwayChessOpen) December 14, 2022

Standings after round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	Yu Yangyi			2728	2	1	2	2,00
	3	GM	Van Foreest Jorden			2690	2	1	2	2,00
	8	GM	Alekseenko Kirill			2672	2	1	2	2,00
	11	GM	Demchenko Anton			2632	2	1	2	2,00
	15	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.			2619	2	1	2	2,00
	16	GM	Aryan Chopra			2618	2	1	2	2,00
	17	GM	Bernadskiy Vitaliy			2617	2	1	2	2,00
	18	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu			2616	2	1	2	2,00
	20	GM	Durarbayli Vasif			2612	2	1	2	2,00
	22	GM	Kollars Dmitrij			2610	2	1	2	2,00
	24	GM	Dardha Daniel			2606	2	1	2	2,00
	25	GM	Sanal Vahap			2597	2	1	2	2,00
	27	GM	Kraemer Martin			2583	2	1	2	2,00
	28	GM	Svane Frederik			2568	2	1	2	2,00
	30	GM	Alsina Leal Daniel			2527	2	1	2	2,00
	41	IM	Wadsworth Matthew J			2470	2	1	2	2,00
	44	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard			2464	2	1	2	2,00
	46	IM	Fernandez Guillen Ernesto J.			2462	2	1	2	2,00
	51	IM	Erdogmus Yagiz Kaan			2453	2	1	2	2,00
	52	GM	Goh Wei Ming Kevin			2452	2	1	2	2,00
	55	IM	Abdisalimov Abdimalik			2447	2	1	2	2,00
	56	IM	Garcia Ramos Daniel			2439	2	1	2	2,00
	57	IM	Nigmatov Ortik			2439	2	1	2	2,00
	62	IM	Fataliyeva Ulviyya	w		2428	2	1	2	2,00
	65	FM	Vitier Vazquez Cristian			2424	2	1	2	2,00
	67	IM	Roberson Peter T			2418	2	1	2	2,00
	68	IM	Krastev Alexander			2416	2	1	2	2,00

...326 players

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