Sunway Sitges Open R9: Leon Mendonca beats Nino Batsiashvili

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/12/2020

Ivan Cheparinov, Jules Moussard and Jaime Santos Latasa will battle for the championship in the final round as they lead the tournament with 7.0/9 in VII Sunway Chess International Open. Cheparinov and Moussard made a draw to retain their lead, while Latasa beat the defending champion Korobov to join the leaders. IM Leon Mendonca beat GM Nino Batsiashvili and Souhardo Basak beat IM Yovanna Gatineau in the penultimate round. Leon will face GM Nicolas Checa and Souhardo will be up against GM Fernando Cuenca in the final round which will start today from 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Cheparinov, Moussard and Latasa in a three-way lead

Ivan Cheparinov and Jules Moussard had a tepid draw to maintain their lead with 7.0/9 heading into the final round of the tournament. Jaime Santos Latasa beat top seed and defending champion Anton Korobov to join the leaders with 7.0/9. IM Leon Mendonca beat GM Nino Batsiashvili and he is looking for a good finish. Souhardo Basak beat IM Yovann Gatineau and he is also looking for a good ending and his final IM-norm. Shubham Bandikatte was held to a draw by Ramos and he is now at 6.5/9 in Group B.

Cheparinov had an uneventful draw with... | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

...Jules Moussard - both share the lead along with Jaime Santos Latasa | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Latasa - Korobov: 1-0

Korobov went wrong early in the opening against Latasa and destroyed his own pawn structure.

Latasa - Korobov

Position after 12...f4

Find out why 12...f4 is mistimed and what black should have played instead before going with f4. With this win Jaime Santos Latasa takes the lead with Ivan Cheparinov and Jules Moussard heading into the final round of the tournament.

Batsiashvili - Leon: 0-1

Leon played solid throughout the game. In the double rook endgame, Batsiashvili made an incorrect pawn break.

Batsiashvili - Leon

Position after 41.d5

41.d5 is not a good idea for white. Find out why. White made some more mistakes soon afterwards which allowed Leon to have a decisive advantage and win the game.

Leon is poised for a good finish | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Souhardo - Yovann: 1-0

Souhardo seized almost every single opportunity his opponent Yovann presented himself and checkmated him in just 30 moves.

Souhardo - Yovann

Position after 25...Nxc2

Black's king is completely vulnerable. 25...Nxc2 didn't help black's case. Find out the finish for white.

Souhardo is on the verge of scoring his final IM-norm | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Shubham was held to a draw and he is now at 6.5/9 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

Replay Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2660	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Moussard Jules	2626	5
2	6	GM	Santos Latasa Jaime	2588	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Korobov Anton	2693	1
3	18	GM	Checa Nicolas	2527	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Fier Alexandr	2549	12
4	4	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2651	5½	½ - ½	6	IM	Sochacki Christophe	2469	26
5	21	GM	Narciso Dublan Marc	2495	5½	0 - 1	5½	GM	Grigoryan Karen H.	2651	3
6	7	GM	Santos Ruiz Miguel	2581	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Stefanova Antoaneta	2466	28
7	9	GM	Cornette Matthieu	2558	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Martin Duque Jesus	2414	36
8	24	IM	Niemann Hans Moke	2478	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Maze Sebastien	2557	10
9	13	GM	Nevednichy Vladislav	2546	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Ayats Llobera Gerard	2400	40
10	23	IM	Dardha Daniel	2485	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Lopez Martinez Josep Manuel	2542	15
11	27	GM	Batsiashvili Nino	2466	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Mendonca Leon Luke	2530	16
12	30	IM	Maurizzi Marc Andria	2445	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Flom Gabriel	2499	20
13	11	GM	Plat Vojtech	2552	5	1 - 0	5½		Lever Erwan	2200	69
14	14	GM	Krysa Leandro	2544	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Romanishin Oleg M	2402	39
15	47	FM	Yu Jennifer	2328	5	0 - 1	5	GM	Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando	2528	17
16	29	GM	Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo	2459	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Esplugas Esteve Vicenc	2319	50
17	31	IM	Gines Esteo Pedro Antonio	2437	5	1 - 0	5	FM	Garcia Jimenez Francisco Javier	2288	56
18	33	IM	Bulmaga Irina	2424	5	½ - ½	5	FM	Msellek Ilyass	2316	52
19	59		Souhardo Basak	2276	5	1 - 0	5	IM	Gatineau Yovann	2423	34
20	57		Ortega Serra Marc	2288	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Dragnev Valentin	2564	8

Details

Prizes

Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.

Schedule

13th - 20th December - 9:00 p.m. IST

18th December - Rest day

21st and 22nd December - 7:30 p.m. IST

23rd December - 1:30 p.m. IST

Links

Official site

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