There were certainly twists and turns on a double-round sunday at the Kvika Reykjavik Open in the Harpa conference center in Iceland. At the end of it, Dutch GM Max Warmedam is the sole leader.
For Max to claim the first place, first Polish GM Lukasz Jarmula first had to falter from his great form. It was the Danish GM Mads Andersen who finally stopped the surprise player of the tournament in the 6th round. Mads followed it up with a rather quick draw against Pragganandhaa and they both share 2nd place. Pragg won a long game against young Abhimanyu Mishra in the morning round.
Max had a great day, opening up the day with a win with the white pieces against the GingerGM, Simon Williams. In the 7th round Max won in nice fashion with the black pieces against Icelandic legend Johann Hjartarson who had moved up to joint leader position after his quick win against Hans Niemann in the 6th round.
Both rounds featured a number of long and gruelling games. The gruelling and cruel was the last game to end in the 7th round. After torturing Tania Sachdev and somehow outplaying her in a Queen endgame, local GM Hedinn Steingrimsson blundered horribly after all the hard work…..only for Tanya to blunder the game back to a draw before the favour was returned and Steingrimsson blundered again. This time Tanya took her chance.
In the 8th round Max plays Idani Pouya who won rather easily in the 7th round after surprisingly taking a bye in the 6rh round. Pragga plays against Matthieu Cornette while Tanya has the white pieces against Mads Andersen after her dramatic victory in the 7th round.
PGN up to and including 7th round (few games missing)
