Richard Rapport and Baskaran Adhiban are now leading the GAMMA Reykjavik Open after a pair of nice wins in the 7th round.
Rapport defeated the recent winner of the European Fischer Random tournament. Rapport had the white pieces and in a slightly unusual Sicilian sideline Rapport got good control of the e5 square in a french like pawn structure and eventually drummed up a winning attack and mated.
Adhiban repeated a Caro-Kann line he had played before and after a very hard fought game Lagarde blundered in a bishop endgame and Adhiban grabbed a crucial win.
The win might prove extremly crucial for Adhiban who will now play the white pieces against Richard Rapport in the 8th and penultimate round.
The 8th round will start at 15:00 local time and it’s clear that most eyes will be on board 1.
In other news it looks like Nihal Sarin should already have secured his 2nd Grandmaster norm but the way he is playing it’s simply a formality at this point.
A pack of players on 5.5 will be hoping for a draw on the top board so they can catch up. Make sure to tune into the offical broadcast on chess.com/tv where GM Simon Williams and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni will guide you through the action.
