Zviad strikes again - 2.5/3 against the Top 3 US players! - Daily report of Round 7
Posted: 6 years, 6 months ago
By IM Vignesh Panchanatham
For prior coverage, see days one, two, three, five, six and four (with analysis of the win by BAC coach GM Zviad Izoria over world championship challenger, GM Fabiano Caruana.)
The critical round after the rest day brought about much turmoil in the rankings.
The leader in the rankings, GM Shankland, couldn’t make anything against GM So’s Grunfeld, and, in fact, ended up in a worse endgame, but with accurate play, the game ended in a draw. GM Xiong achieved a nice position in the Catalan against GM Zherebukh, but it petered out into a draw. GM Liang took advantage of some nice tactics in the middlegame to win a pawn against GM Robson, but he was unable to convert the rook and knight endgame. GM Lenderman simply outplayed GM Onischuk in a slightly better rook and bishop versus rook and knight endgame. GM Caruana launched a massive attack against GM Akobian, and the counterattack was far too ineffective to stop the continuous barrage of pieces.
In another upset, GM Izoria continued his strong play with a devastating victory against GM Nakamura. Izoria gained an advantage on the dark squares and cramped position of his opponent but gave much of it back through transitioning to the endgame. However, Nakamura’s inaccurate play allowed Izoria to convert the rook endgame.
Caruana and Shankland currently share first with 5.0, with So a half point behind. Lagging behind the leaders with 3.5 points, are Akobian, Zherebukh, Lenderman, and BayAreaChess’ own Izoria!
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