Nepomniachtchi two points ahead of the field at World Rapid Chess Championship

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

The second day of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk was marked by the confident play of Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Russian Grandmaster scored 4.5 points at the five games played on the second day, the same result he obtained during the first five rounds. Therefore, he is on top of the standings. Nepomniachtchi is on 9/10 before the last day of rapid chess. The closest competitors – Ildar Khayrullin (Russia) and Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria) – are two points behind him.

Follow the games live with computer analysis

Nepomniachtchi started the second day with a victory over his compatriot Alexei Dreev. He continued his victorious march with wins over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Boris Grachev (Russia) and Le Quang Liem (Vietnam). The only half point he lost was seen in his game against Dmitry Andreikin.

The famous Russian commentator GM Sergey Shipov said the following regarding the successful start of the young Russian:

“Ian is lucky at the tournament to have three positive factors combined in his favor. He is in great shape himself. Besides, his main competitors are not showing their best performance, due to different reasons: Grischuk is keeping secrets in his openings, Ponomariov is not in the best health state, and Dreev is not young anymore to cope with the tough tournament. I was expecting more from Andreikin, but maybe he did not force his preparation as he has a more important tournament ahead – the Tal Memorial“.

“Ian found the right balance between light and deep game. This is very important in rapid chess, where you don’t have the possibility to sink into the depth of the game. He plays very quickly and thinks deeply only in the critical moments”.

“In recent years, Nepomniachtchi was not so successful, but he worked hard and, sooner or later, the result has to come. In my opinion, he has a great chance to win two golden medals, but let’s see what happens”.

Ivan Cheparinov had an undefeated day in Khanty-Mansiysk. He won two games with white, over Alexei Dreev and Vladimir Akopian, and drew the rest of his games. Given Nepomniachtchi’s performance, it will be very hard for the Bulgarian to catch the leader going into the last day with a disadvantage of two points. Full standings below

The final five rounds of the World Rapid Chess Championship will be held on Saturday, June 8 at 3 p.m. local time.

Photos by Maria Emelianova and Kirill Merkuryev

Official website

Standings after 10 rounds:

1	GM	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	RUS	2762	9
2	GM	Khairullin, Ildar	RUS	2683	7
3	GM	Cheparinov, Ivan	BUL	2678	7
4	GM	Dreev, Aleksey	RUS	2746	6.5
5	GM	Akopian, Vladimir	ARM	2691	6.5
6	GM	Potkin, Vladimir	RUS	2663	6.5
7	GM	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	AZE	2726	6.5
8	GM	Grischuk, Alexander	RUS	2825	6.5
9	GM	Movsesian, Sergei	ARM	2680	6.5
10	GM	Le, Quang Liem	VIE	2681	6
11	GM	Inarkiev, Ernesto	RUS	2696	6
12	GM	Zvjaginsev, Vadim	RUS	2671	6
13	GM	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	ESP	2706	6
14	GM	Andreikin, Dmitry	RUS	2692	6
15	GM	Guseinov, Gadir	AZE	2640	6
16	GM	Vitiugov, Nikita	RUS	2719	6
17	GM	Jakovenko, Dmitry	RUS	2690	6
18	GM	Ponomariov, Ruslan	UKR	2743	5.5
19	GM	Grachev, Boris	RUS	2684	5.5
20	GM	Moiseenko, Alexander	UKR	2714	5.5
21	GM	Mamedov, Rauf	AZE	2712	5.5
22	GM	Bologan, Viktor	MDA	2663	5.5
23	GM	Khismatullin, Denis	RUS	2674	5.5
24	GM	Riazantsev, Alexander	RUS	2616	5.5
25	GM	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	VIE	2625	5.5
26	GM	Rakhmanov, Aleksandr	RUS	2564	5.5
27	GM	Ponkratov, Pavel	RUS	2634	5
28	GM	Najer, Evgeniy	RUS	2638	5
29	GM	Vasquez Schroeder, Rodrigo	CHI	2563	5
30	GM	Frolyanov, Dmitry	RUS	2665	5
31	GM	Salem, A.R. Saleh	UAE	2531	5
32	GM	Kamsky, Gata	USA	2751	5
33	GM	Safarli, Eltaj	AZE	2660	5
34	GM	AL-Sayed, Mohammed	QAT	2513	4.5
35	IM	Artemiev, Vladislav	RUS	2573	4.5
36	GM	Dubov, Daniil	RUS	2584	4.5
37	GM	Sargissian, Gabriel	ARM	2682	4.5
38	GM	Rublevsky, Sergei	RUS	2731	4.5
39	GM	Kabanov, Nikolai	RUS	2445	4.5
40	IM	Potapov, Pavel	RUS	2498	4.5
41	GM	Gundavaa, Bayarsaikhan	MGL	2516	4.5
42	GM	Pridorozhni, Aleksei	RUS	2561	4.5
43	GM	Kurnosov, Igor	RUS	2623	4.5
44	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	UKR	2598	4.5
45	GM	Smirin, Ilia	ISR	2639	4
46	FM	Gordievsky, Dmitry	RUS	2517	4
47	GM	Kobalia, Mikhail	RUS	2590	4
48	GM	Popov, Ivan	RUS	2639	4
49	GM	Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan	IRI	2588	4
50	GM	Cherniaev, Alexander	RUS	2494	3.5
51	GM	Skatchkov, Pavel	RUS	2486	3.5
52	GM	Bezgodov, Alexei	RUS	2482	3.5
53	IM	Pasiev, Rakhim	RUS	2412	3.5
54	GM	Georgiev, Kiril	BUL	2651	3
55		Ram, S. Krishnan	IND	2313	3
56	FM	Byambaa, Zulzaga	MGL	2285	2.5
57	IM	Nadanian, Ashot	ARM	2428	2.5
58	IM	Akbaev, Kazbek	RUS	2428	1