Nikita Vitiugov signed his first victory, while Vassily Ivanchuk suffers his third consecutive defeat in the 54th Reggio Emilia tournament. From a relatively harmless position and with loads of time on the clock, Ivanchuk went for a faulty combination and simply dropped a piece (probably missing that Ne3 retreat prevents the check from b6).
Black could have played on with two pawns for a piece in the endgame, but Ivanchuk gave up immediately.
The other two games were drawn without much excitement. Morozevich – Giri opened with the Exchange variation of the QGD and quickly ended with moves repetition.
Vassily Ivanchuk and Nikita Vitiugov
The tournament leader Hikaru Nakamura employed a rare line in the Kan Sicilian and completed the opening with a harmonic development of the pieces. On 21st move he offered a draw which Fabiano Caruana accepted.
In the women tournament all three games were decided. Sopiko Guramishvili wins again, this time against Mariagrazia De Rosa. Anna Sharevich scored against Marianna Chierici, while Marina Brunello brought joy to the Italian fans by defeating Iva Videnova.
Photos by Martha Fierro
Mariagrazia De Rosa and Sopiko Guramishvili
LIVE Games with computer analysis
Round 7 standings (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw):
1. Nakamura Hikaru 2758 USA – 15
2. Morozevich Alexander 2762 RUS – 11
3. Giri Anish 2714 NED – 9
4-5. Caruana Fabiano 2727 ITA and Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 UKR – 8
6. Vitiugov Nikita 2729 RUS – 5
Round 1 report / Round 2 report / Round 3 report / Round 4 report
Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana
Iva Videnova
Anish Giri and Alexander Morozevich
