Onischuk shocks Jakovenko!

A win by the American Alexander Onischuk against the leader has completely opened up the tournament. Now four players tie for equal first on 6/10 with only one game remaining.
Are we in for a surprise?
Victor Bologan will be aiming to beat his fellow tree-planter Alexander Motylev tomorrow in his quest for first place.

Onischuk obtained some opening pressure against Black's slightly inferior pawn structure. Black's efforts to 'temporarily' sacrifice a pawn for activity didn't convince the American who steered the game into a clearly favourable endgame a 'permanent' pawn to the good.

The opening went wrong today @ chesspro

Nikita Vitiugov and Victor Bologan seems to have come from nowhere and, with their consecutive wins, are in the thick of the hunt along with top seeds Sergey Karjakin and Dmitry Jakovenko.

Both won with Black, Vitiugov after creating an unexpected swindle, and Bologan after breaking free against an IQP attack which left White with a rook offside. The exchange of queens then ensured a superior endgame for Black.

Alexander OnischukUSA26991-0Dmitry JakovenkoRussia2725
Baadur JobavaGeorgia27150.5-0.5Ivan SokolovBosnia-Herzegovina2654
Alexander MotylevRussia27040.5-0.5Alexander RiazantsevRussia2674
Sergei RublevskyRussia27040.5-0.5Sergey KarjakinRussia2739
Emil SutovskyIsrael26610-1Nikita VitiugovRussia2707
Arkadij NaiditschGermany26860-1Victor BologanMoldavia2668

Sergey Karjakin was willing to take on Rublevsky's trademark Scotch and a complicated game ensued in which both players had chances. Karjakin sacrificed the exchange but his attack only led to a repetition.

PositionNameCountryRatingWorld rankingAgePoints after ten rounds
1st-4thSergey KarjakinRUS273914206
1st-4thDmitry JakovenkoRUS272521266
1st-4thNikita VitiugovRUS270732236
1st-4thVictor BologanMDA266864386
5thAlexander RiazantsevRUS267458245.5
6th-7thAlexander OnischukUSA269938345
6th-7thEmil SutovskyISR266175325
8th-9thArkadij NaiditschGER268647244.5
8th-9thBaadur JobavaGEO271526264.5
10th-11thIvan SokolovBIH265483414
10th-11thAlexander MotylevRUS270434304
12thSergei RublevskyRUS270433353.5

The final round tomorrow should be decisive. Surely one of the four pretendants will take some risks to win? However if none of them can gain a full point Riazentsev is only half-a-point behind and might yet be able to catch the leaders.

None of the leaders are playing each other and, quite remarkably, all five have White!

You can follow the games live (two hours earlier tomorrow!) on Live games

You may also like to investigate the following site Chesspro However it is in Russian!

The tenth round will start tomorrow (Saturday) at 8am (London), 9am (Paris) or 1pm (local time).

Onischuk may have cost Jakovenko the tournament @ chesspro

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