GM domination! That’s the only way to explain boards 1, 2 and 3 in round 2 of the main schedule. Not counting Fishbein who gave up a half-point in round 1, the three GMs methodically mopped up their lower rated wannabe’s in style to give themselves an early night so they can be refreshed for the rest of the players that managed to fight their way to a 2/2 record. However, it isn’t just those 3 GMs that maintained their 100% record as no less than 11 players finished the night with a perfect score.
On board 1, GM Sergey Erenburg put the pressure on Mark Heimann until he eventually reached the following position.
Position after 27…Ra7
Here Erenburg quickly finished the game by 28.Qxd8 and Heimann resigned after calculating the ending positions.
On board 2, GM Alex Shabalov got his dream pairing against IM Jay Bonin and reached the following position.
Position after 29.Qd3
Shabalov uncorked the sacrifice 29…Ng3+ and went on to win after 30.hxg3 fxg3 31.Rf3 Qh3+ 32.Kg1 Rh8 33.Nxg3 Bxg3 34.Rgxg3 Qh2+ 0-1. Black will win the rook on g3 thanks to the pin on the other rook.
On board 3, GM Alex Ivanov was playing Daniel Yeager and the following position was reached.
Position after 23.f3
Here Ivanov finished off the game with the neat 23…Ne4 24.Rxb2 Qa1+ 25.Bb1 Nxg3+ 0-1.
Round 3 will see if the GMs are able to stay ahead of the group or if there will be a few surprise results. Round 4 is where the real fun may begin as there are 3 more GMs, Leonid Kritz, Georgi Kacheishvili and last year’s winner, Darmen Sadvakasov, in the 2-day schedule and both groups merge for this evenings round.