54th Reggio Emilia – Round Three
The third round of the 54th Reggio Emilia Tournament saw Vassily Ivanchuk downing the local favourite and reigning Italian champion Fabiano Caruana in a deep endgame.
The game started as Sveshnikov Sicilian, which Caruana himself likes to play with black pieces. In the development typical of this opening, with several pieces’ exchanges and narrowed front, Ivanchuk maintained the slight pull throughout most of the game which eventually transposed into the N vs B ending with three pawns on each side.
Ivanchuk maneuvered on all sides trying to break white’s fortress. Eventually, after five hours of play, he succeeded so but not without the help from Caruana. With this victory Ivanchuk moves ahead to the shared 2nd place.
In the highly anticipated clash between two wizards of chess, Alexander Morozevich and Hikaru Nakamura, Moro couldn’t get any advantage with white from the Queen’s Gambit Exchange and the draw was agreed relatively early on. Morozevich maintains the lead in the tournament while Nakamura is on shared 2nd place.
Nikita Vitiugov – Anish Giri was a very interesting Gruenfeld Indian defence with pawns flying on all sides of board. Inevitably, too many pieces were traded and the material was quickly reduced. Nevertheless, the players continued to fight for another 20 moves and only after the first time control a draw was agreed.
In the women’s tournament Sopiko Guramishvili wins yet another game and leads with the perfect score, while Anna Sharevich was stopped by Marina Brunello.
In the third game Mariagrazia De Rosa takes a draw against Iva Videnova.
LIVE Games with computer analysis
Round 3 standings (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw):
1. Morozevich Alexander 2762 RUS – 7
2-3. Nakamura Hikaru 2758 USA and Ivanchuk Vassily 2775 UKR – 5
4-5. Giri Anish 2714 NED and Vitiugov Nikita 2729 RUS – 2
6. Caruana Fabiano 2727 ITA – 1
Round 1 report / Round 2 report
Nakamura will come out ahead at the end.