Chess competition continues in full blast
There is only one round left to determine the winners of the chess competition.
In the men’s tournament, Arash Daghli (FM) from Iran had taken the lead. Thanks to the suprising defeat of Dimitrios Alexis (IM) to Igor Janik (GM) in the Round 7, Arash became the only undefeated player remaining in the men’s tournament with a stunning score of 6/7.
In the round 7 on the board 7 between Karas Marek (FM) and Gatineau Yovann (IM), both players were roughly equal in strength. Their match took longer then 5 hours and 124 moves. At the end both players were tired, and Marek made a mistake by not exchanging his bishop for a knight. In the end, Yovann checkmated his opponent with two knights against a pawn.
In the women’s tournament after Thursday’s rounds 6 and 7 on Thursday, they made it exciting for the round 8 with five of them tied with an equel number of points 5/9.
The round 8 saw draws on all of the top boards. However, this has a different effect on the women’s and the men’s tournament. In the men’s tournament Arash Daghli is still on his own in pole position with 6,5/8. Dimitris Alexis from Greece and Mahdi Orimi from Iran are still in close pursuit with only half a point less. But if Arash wins round 9, he is guaranteed to get the world title!
The situation couldn’t be different in the women’s section. No less than six players are all tied for the first place! Three of these players are Polish, but they are joined by players from Greece, Germany and Hungary. Round 9 will decide which country gets to take home the title.
