Al Ain: Georgian GM Gaioz Nigalidze drew with top seed Yuriy Kryvoruchko of Ukraine in the seventh round to maintain sole lead with two rounds remaining in the Al Ain Chess Classic at the Hili Rayhaan Rotana hotel in Al Ain.
Nigalidze drew in 34 moves of a Queen’s Indian Defence by Kryvoruchko to tally 6 points, a half-point ahead of six others. Kryvoruchko has 5.5 points together with youthful Indian GM Sahaj Grover, Tigran L. Petrosian of Armenia, Sergey Volkov of Russia, Vladimir Onischuk of Ukraine and Sergei Zhigalko of Belarus.
The 19-year-old Grover from Delhi beat Evgeny Miroshnichenko of Ukraine in 36 moves of an English Opening. Petrosian used the Pirc Defense to outmanoeuvre Alexander Kovchan of Ukraine in a marathon 69 moves of a minor piece endgame. Volkov smashed the Nimzo Indian Defense of Arun Prasad of India to join the leaders. Onischuk used the Budapest Defense to draw with Zhigalko and tie at 5.5 points each.
Sixteen players are bunched together at 5 points each including five Indian players, namely Deep Sengupta, G.N. Gopal, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Chanda Sandipan and Prasankna Vishnu. Keeping pace are Levon Babujan and Arman Pashikian of Armenia, Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan, Vadim Malakhatko of Belgium, Luka Paichadze and Mikheil Mchedlishvili of Georgia, Mircea Emilian Parligras of Romania, Ukrainians Yuriy Kuzubov, Mikhailo Oleksienko and Alexander Areshchenko and Samuel Shankland of the USA.
Eighteen players trail with 4.5 points each with slim chances of landing in the money prizes for the first 20 places. At stake is a total of $50,000 (Dh183,650) with a top prize of $11,000 and various category prizes.
The 9-round Swiss System tournament is organised by the Al Ain Chess Club with a strong field of 150 players including 43 Grandmasters, 9 Woman Grandmasters and 14 International Masters from 27 countries. Aside from the host country, India has the largest delegation with 31 players followed by Azerbaijan with 23, and Ukraine and Iran with 11 players each.
Games are broadcast live at the alainchess.com web site with YouTube video commentary for Alain Chess Classic channel and results and standings in chess-results.com. The last round starts 2pm on Friday, 26th Dec with closing ceremony at 9pm.
