The first two days of action at the 29th edition of the TePe Sigeman & Co. round-robin in Malmö saw 6 out of 8 games ending decisively, with interesting battles taking place almost in every single game.
Vincent Keymer and Anton Korobov kicked off the event with back-to-back wins, which leaves them as shared leaders going into Monday’s third round — there are no rest days in the tournament, which will come to an end on Friday. In round 2, Keymer showed excellent preparation to beat local representative Nils Grandelius, while Korobov outplayed Marc’Andria Maurizzi from the black side of a Catalan Opening.
The third win of the day was obtained by defending champion Peter Svidler. At 47, the GM from Saint Petersburg rarely participates in classical tournaments — in 2023, he only played in Malmö, at the FIDE World Cup and in a friendly match against Vidit Gujrathi. With his round-2 victory over Ju Wenjun, the 8-time Russian champion is now in the race for first place at the traditional tournament in Sweden.
The marquee matchup of the round saw top seeds Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Arjun Erigaisi signing a 35-move draw, with Arjun getting a slight edge out of the opening while marshalling the black pieces.
Round 3 will see Korobov playing white against Keymer in the clash of co-leaders, while Abdusattorov is likely to attempt to go for a win in his game with black against Svidler.
Results - Round 2
Co-leader Anton Korobov | Photo: Mikael Svensson, tepesigemanchess.com
Peter Svidler | Photo: Mikael Svensson, tepesigemanchess.com
Analysis by Klaus Besenthal
Nils Grandelius | Photo: Mikael Svensson, tepesigemanchess.com
