Tuesday, April 15, 2008 So shares lead going into final round
DUBAI—The triumvirate of Grandmasters Wesley So, Merab Gagunashvili and Li Chao retained their hold of the lead after a relatively uneventful penultimate round Sunday in the 10th Dubai Chess Open at the Dubai Chess and Culture Club.
With all top four boards ending in draws, the three leaders maintained their half point lead over their nearest pursuers as they hiked their scores to 6.5 points going to the ultimate ninth round, which was being played at press time Monday.
So, who has the highest tiebreak score among the three leaders, settled for a draw with Iran’s GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in an English Opening, while the Georgian Gagunashvili and Li likewise halved their match.
Final round
The results set up a final-round showdown between So, the world’s youngest grandmaster at 14, and Li, one of China’s newest sensations who last year ruled the PGMA Cup in Manila.
Gagunashvili was paired against Ukraine’s Valeriy Neverov, who joins seven other players bunched up at second place with six points each. Others with six points are Maghami, India’s GM Abhijeet Gupta, Ukraine’s GM Yuri Drozdovski, India’s IM RR Laxman, Georgia’s GM David Arutinian, Kazakhstan’s GM Nurlan Ibrayev and UAE teenager FM Salem AR Saleh, who tallied another upset in the eight round after outplaying GM Pavel Kotsur of Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, IM Julio Catalino Sadorra and Jobannie Tabada both lost their matches in the eighth round to remain at four points. Sadorra overestimated his chances by giving up two pawns for the attack in a loss to WGM Maria Sergeeva of Kazakhstan, while Tabada got into serious time trouble and lost to IM Dinesh Sharma of India.
Fide Master Antonio Molina Sr. also has four points after outplaying Palestine’s Khalil Al-Housa, while National Master Robert Arellano and Ernesto Yap have 3.5 points each. Arellano lost to India’s Kumar Praveen, while Yap drew with Iran’s Pouya Mari Ooriad. (JCT)
