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

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi

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.

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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.

Ivan Cheparinov

Ivan Cheparinov

Dmitry Jakovenko

Dmitry Jakovenko

Andreikin - Potkin

Andreikin – Potkin

Kateryna Lahno

Kateryna Lahno

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
           

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