There was loads of action in the 8th and penultimate round of the GAMMA Reykjavik Open. Before the round, Rapport and Adhiban led with 6 out of 7 and their matchup on board one was highly anticipated. Very surprsingly and after interesting opening play by Adhiban, Rapport blundered horribly missing a simple tactic. To Adhibans credit he was much better at that point but the blunder meant that the board 1 clash was one of the fastest games of the round to finish!
The only other notable game to finish faster was the short repetition draw between Sarin and his countryman Vaibhav. Sarin went for the repetition to secure his 2nd Grandmaster norm. This talented young man is on his way to big things and the Grandmaster title is only a matter of time at this point!
Adhiban for a while looked like he would be leading by a full point before the last round before a crucial series of events on board 2. Daniel Fernandez had been pushing a small edge and trying to win in the endgame when he reached too far and basically lost all his pawns and had to resign. This was so traumatic for him that he withdrew for the last round which is not something one wants to be known for!
This sets up a final round clash between Mustafa Yilmaz with white against Baskaran Adhiban with black. The math is simple. If Adhiban holds the draw or wins, he is the winner of the tournament. If Yilmaz manages to win with white he will be the winner of the 2018 GAMMA Reykjavik Open!
Other clashes pale in comparison in the 9th round but nontheless there will be many interesting matchups with several players fighting for their final placing and prize money. Also there will be plenty of norm games which will be interesting to watch.
The last round will start very early local time at 11:00.
Live broadcasts with commentary by GM Simon Williams and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni
8th round broadcast:
Watch Reykjavik Open, Round 8 from Chess on www.twitch.tv
