Dubai open

[Mick Norris]

Top board was drawn

David Howell won a fluctuating game with both players on increment for a while

Gawain won to join the 2 leaders and presumably gets black v Akopian in the next round

[Mick Norris]

Top boards in the penultimate round are:
Akopian - Jones
Savchenko - Sokolov

Rank after Round 7
Rk. SNo Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4
1 10 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2656 6,0 0,0 31,0 28,5 5,0
2 16 GM Sokolov Ivan NED 2626 6,0 0,0 30,5 27,5 5,0
3 13 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2650 6,0 0,0 29,0 26,5 5,0
4 23 GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2607 6,0 0,0 27,0 23,5 6,0
5 42 IM Gagare Shardul IND 2491 5,5 0,0 29,5 26,5 4,0
6 25 GM Yilmaz Mustafa TUR 2594 5,5 0,0 28,5 24,5 4,0
7 9 GM Sethuraman S.P. IND 2658 5,5 0,0 28,0 25,0 4,0
8 11 GM Safarli Eltaj AZE 2656 5,5 0,0 27,0 24,5 4,0
9 24 GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2604 5,5 0,0 26,0 24,0 4,0
10 19 GM Fier Alexandr BRA 2619 5,5 0,0 26,0 23,0 5,0
11 39 GM Darini Pouria IRI 2496 5,5 0,0 24,0 21,5 4,0
12 4 GM Bruzon Batista Lazaro CUB 2679 5,5 0,0 23,5 21,5 4,0
13 7 GM Adhiban B. IND 2663 5,0 0,0 29,5 27,0 4,0
14 5 GM Howell David W L ENG 2678 5,0 0,0 29,0 26,5 5,0

[Jonathan Rogers]

Gawain did beat Akopian when playing for England some years ago, in one of our many near-misses against a top side (Armenia later drew when Sargissian ground down Nick Pert). Admittedly Gawain was White and Akopian played an unsound (though practically dangerous) exchange sac, probably because Movsessian had made a complete mess of his opening. Still, a useful past result to take into a big game.

[NickFaulks]

Admittedly Gawain was White and Akopian played an unsound (though practically dangerous) exchange sac,

After that exchange sac, Akopian was nowhere near as objectively busted as he was after giving up a piece against David in round 5. That's the way he plays.

[Jonathan Rogers]

More so with Black, perhaps - remembering also how he played against Adams in the semi-final of the "World Championship" in 1999. I can't think of anything too zany that he has tried with White.

[John Moore]

Brilliant hold by Gawain against Akopian in the endgame.

[LawrenceCooper]

Brilliant hold by Gawain against Akopian in the endgame.

Agreed, a very instructive ending.

[Mick Norris]

Yes, interesting game

David drew with black with a Berlin

Savchenko won to lead with 7, Gawain on 6.5 is third on tiebreak

Rank after Round 8
Rk. SNo Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3 TB4
1 23 GM Savchenko Boris RUS 2607 7,0 0,0 38,0 35,0 7,0
2 10 GM Akopian Vladimir ARM 2656 6,5 0,0 39,5 36,5 5,0
3 13 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2650 6,5 0,0 38,0 35,5 5,0
4 24 GM Pantsulaia Levan GEO 2604 6,5 0,0 34,0 32,0 5,0
5 19 GM Fier Alexandr BRA 2619 6,5 0,0 34,0 31,5 6,0
6 39 GM Darini Pouria IRI 2496 6,5 0,0 33,0 30,0 5,0

Round 9
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 13 GM Jones Gawain C B 2650 6½ 7 GM Savchenko Boris 2607 23
2 24 GM Pantsulaia Levan 2604 6½ 6½ GM Akopian Vladimir 2656 10
3 19 GM Fier Alexandr 2619 6½ 6½ GM Darini Pouria 2496 39

[Paul Dargan]

Yeah instructiuve ending ... important (and weird) that Kg3 blocking the pawn, but allowing it to 'shoulder' the White king drew, but Kh3 - not blockingthe pawn - actually lost.

I was worried earlier watching online ... wondering about going to the venue for the final round

Paul

[LawrenceCooper]

Yeah instructiuve ending ... important (and weird) that Kg3 blocking the pawn, but allowing it to 'shoulder' the White king drew, but Kh3 - not blockingthe pawn - actually lost.

I was worried earlier watching online ... wondering about going to the venue for the final round

Paul

I think slightly earlier that Kg4 blocking the pawn instead of Kh4 may have avoided the RvN scenario but I found it deceptive just how quickly the white king could get back to hold up the g pawn.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Yeah instructiuve ending ... important (and weird) that Kg3 blocking the pawn, but allowing it to 'shoulder' the White king drew, but Kh3 - not blockingthe pawn - actually lost.

Unless you've seen that before, it takes a lot of confidence to play an anti-intuitive move over the board. You may think you will end up looking silly if the "obvious" move was drawing and the move you chose loses. You have to try and produce concrete analysis and be sure of what is going on. This is difficult if you are short of time.

[JustinHorton]

Gawain has a nice edge, not to mention half an hour more on the clock.

[JustinHorton]

Savchenko really has played extremely poorly.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So Gawain shares first with Akopian. Who comes first on tie-break if there is one? Is this Gawain's best ever result?

[Leonard Barden]

Gawain jumps into the world top 100, leapfrogging Nigel.

http://www.2700chess.com/?per-page=100