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With two rounds to go, things are heating up at the Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival 2019. Although Anton Korobov maintains his lead with 7.0/9, he has a group of four hungry players on his heels at 6.5/8. Behind them are 18 players with 6.0/8!

Korobov has played a very consistent event and is on 7.0/8. He has a rating performance of 2872 and is gaining 17 Elo points. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Azeri GM Vasif Durarbayli held Korobov to a draw | Photo: Lennart Ootes

American youngster Awonder Liang provided the upset of the day by beating Vassily Ivanchuk with some fine endgame tactics! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The resignation moment captured by Awonder Liang | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Daniel King analyzes Awonder Liang versus Ivanchuk

Another upset of the day was Javokhir Sindarov beating Parham Maghsoodloo | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Nihal Sarin has been rock solid at the event with four draws and four wins. He beat the talented Kazkh female player Dinara Saduakassova | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Nihal's performance at the event. He faces the strong German GM Dennis Wagner in round 9.

Playing exceedingly well and also on 6.0/8 and unbeaten is Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Arjun Erigaisi has been unshakable at the event. He also faces a stiff challenge in the form of Karthikeyan Murali in round 9.

Blindfold king Timur Gareyev had the advantage and pushed hard throughout the game, but was unable to break through Arjun's defenses. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

After a 5.0/5 start Narayanan lost his game to Korobov, but has steadied his boat with two draws and is now on 6.0/8 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Abhimanyu lost his game to Igor Kovalenko and is on 6.0/8 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Praggnanandhaa drew his round 8 game against GM Girish Koushik and is on 5.5/8 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Raunak Sadhwani will turn 14 on 22nd of December. On his second last day as a 13-year-old he held GM Sasikiran Krishnan to a draw. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Chess players and food:

One of the important things that chess players must take care off while playing chess is "what should they take along with them to the game for energy?" Lennart Ootes went across the playing hall and captured the different foodstuffs that were carried by different players.

KitKat is S.L. Narayanan's favourite! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Raunak Sadhwani believes in carrying dark chocolate | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Little Pragg believes in natural food and always has a banana by his side! The banana is always intact, so we begin to wonder if Pragg ever eats it! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

You will always find a lot of takers for Snickers! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

A perfect drink for Star Wars' fans! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Results of round 8

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	3	GM	Korobov Anton	2668	6½	½ - ½	6	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	2609	18
2	8	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2647	5½	1 - 0	6	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2580	26
3	23	GM	Liang Awonder	2593	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Ivanchuk Vassily	2690	1
4	25	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2585	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2644	9
5	13	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2626	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Svane Rasmus	2597	22
6	27	GM	Wagner Dennis	2578	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Heimann Andreas	2617	14
7	33	GM	Nasuta Grzegorz	2545	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Salgado Lopez Ivan	2605	20
8	21	GM	Gareyev Timur	2598	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2544	34
9	2	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2690	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	2526	42
10	5	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2656	5	½ - ½	5	IM	Sadhwani Raunak	2507	48

Standings after round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	Gr	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3	GM	Korobov Anton				UKR	2668	0		7,0	40,5	44,0	38,00
2	8	GM	Kovalenko Igor				LAT	2647	0		6,5	38,0	42,0	33,50
3	18	GM	Durarbayli Vasif				AZE	2609	0		6,5	38,0	41,0	32,50
4	33	GM	Nasuta Grzegorz				POL	2545	0		6,5	36,0	39,5	31,75
5	23	GM	Liang Awonder	16			USA	2593	0		6,5	33,0	36,0	28,75
6	9	GM	Donchenko Alexander				GER	2644	0		6,0	38,5	42,5	31,00
7	25	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	H			ESP	2585	2572	Ext	6,0	38,5	41,0	29,50
8	11	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin				IRI	2635	0		6,0	38,0	41,5	29,75
9	34	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	16			IND	2544	0		6,0	37,5	41,5	30,75
10	26	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu				IND	2580	0		6,0	37,5	41,5	29,75
11	13	GM	Narayanan.S.L	H			IND	2626	0		6,0	37,5	41,0	28,00
12	21	GM	Gareyev Timur				USA	2598	0		6,0	36,5	40,5	29,00
13	16	GM	Nihal Sarin	H16			IND	2612	0		6,0	36,5	40,0	29,25
14	27	GM	Wagner Dennis				GER	2578	0		6,0	36,5	39,5	28,50
15	22	GM	Svane Rasmus				GER	2597	0		6,0	36,0	39,5	29,00
16	31	GM	Gukesh D	16			IND	2547	0		6,0	35,0	38,5	27,25
17	32	GM	Shevchenko Kirill				UKR	2547	0		6,0	35,0	38,5	25,75
18	14	GM	Heimann Andreas				GER	2617	0		6,0	34,0	37,5	27,25
19	60	IM	Erenberg Ariel				ISR	2479	0		6,0	34,0	37,0	26,50
20	43	IM	Bjerre Jonas Buhl	H16			DEN	2526	0	Skanderborg Skakklub	6,0	33,5	37,0	26,50

Pairings of round 9

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	23	GM	Liang Awonder	2593	6½		7	GM	Korobov Anton	2668	3
2	18	GM	Durarbayli Vasif	2609	6½		6½	GM	Kovalenko Igor	2647	8
3	9	GM	Donchenko Alexander	2644	6		6½	GM	Nasuta Grzegorz	2545	33
4	32	GM	Shevchenko Kirill	2547	6		6	GM	Tabatabaei M.Amin	2635	11
5	26	GM	Puranik Abhimanyu	2580	6		6	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2626	13
6	14	GM	Heimann Andreas	2617	6		6	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2585	25
7	16	GM	Nihal Sarin	2612	6		6	GM	Wagner Dennis	2578	27
8	34	GM	Erigaisi Arjun	2544	6		6	GM	Karthikeyan Murali	2611	17
9	42	GM	Sindarov Javokhir	2526	6		6	GM	Adly Ahmed	2607	19
10	60	IM	Erenberg Ariel	2479	6		6	GM	Gareyev Timur	2598	21