Three players tie for the lead for what projects to be an exciting final round at the Reykjavik Open.
Before the round, Max Warmerdamn as the sole leader. He settled on a draw with white in his game against Iranian GM Idani Pouya. Perhaps Max could have played on with his bishop pair and slight space advantage but he decided to call it a relatively quick day.
This opened the door for Pragganandhaa to catch up and boy did he catch up! In one of the more crushing games of the tournament, Pragga sacrifcied a piece early and then simpy didn’t let the foot of the gas.
Also taking advantage was Danish GM Mads Andersen. For most of his game against Tania Sachdev it looked like the game was heading to a draw. It wasn’t until very late in the rook endgame….and despite both sides messing up….that Mads was able to attain a winning position.
These three lead with 6,5 points after the 8 rounds but the trailing pack with 6 points is think! No fewer than six players are on 6 points and they are all in a dog fight for the top 10 prizes.
D Gukesh put himself in good position to end up in the prizes with a great win against local GM Johann Hjartarson. A complicated middlegame fell the way of the young Indian.
The top local player right now is GM Hjorvar Gretarsson with 6 points. The theme of underpromotion seems rich in the games of the Icelandic GM’s and in fact Hjorvar despite dominating most of the game was lucky to escape on such case.
In the final round, Mads has white against Max while Pragga gets a tough pairing with black against Gukesh. The battle for top 10 spots figures to be fierce! Tune it for the final round!!
- Chess-Results
- Games in PGN (including 8th round)
- Pictures (ÞM)
