4 gamers share the lead after spherical eight of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023. Within the Girls’s, the identical three gamers proceed to share the lead. 

All successful with the white items, GMs Andrey Esipenko, Fabiano Caruana, and Bogdan-Daniel Deac caught as much as the chief GM Vidit Gujrathi. Within the Girls’s, the three leaders stay unchanged: IM Vaishali Rameshbabu, GM Anna Muzychuk, and GM Antoaneta Stefanova.

Spherical 9 begins three hours sooner than regular, to keep away from conflicting with a parade and firework show in Douglas. On Friday, November 3, it begins at 7:30 a.m. ET / 12:30 CET / 5 p.m. IST.  

Robust Event, Robust Schedule 

The event approaches a essential juncture as simply three rounds stay. As a consequence of a last-minute schedule change, spherical 9 shall be one of many hardest for the gamers. Leko stated: “It is an insane schedule. I do not consider that it ever occurred earlier than; it is very, very unlucky for the gamers. I already really feel very sorry for all of them.”

This 11-round event has only one relaxation day, after spherical six. Evaluating it to the latest world championship, which had seven relaxation days for 14 rounds, Nieksans requested, “Wouldn’t it make extra sense to have one other relaxation day [instead of starting round nine early]?” The latest Candidates, as one other instance, had 4 relaxation days for 14 rounds.

Anyway, it is one thing for the organizers to consider for the following version. 

Open: Esipenko, Caruana, And Deac Rating Essential Wins

Esipenko-Keymer gave the impression to be a nightmare pairing for the German number-one. Of their three earlier classical video games, Esipenko gained two white video games and drew one with Black. With this third victory, Esipenko has a one hundred pc win fee in opposition to Keymer with White. 

Esipenko ready a chunk sacrifice as early as transfer eight. Keymer navigated the issues, sacrificed materials again, and reached the next endgame, at which level the primary participant nonetheless had one minute and 24 seconds greater than he began with.

“I used to be extraordinarily drained after yesterday’s recreation and I could not actually put together at present,” stated Esipenko, who efficiently defended a 7.5-hour recreation in opposition to GM Arjun Erigaisi the spherical earlier than. The truth is, Esipenko had this line ready for GM Kateryna Lagno in a latest nationwide event, a recreation that he gained.

Requested about tomorrow’s early begin time, he replied: “Oof, I will attempt!”

GM Dejan Bojkov annotates this good piece of preparation and glorious endgame within the Recreation of the Day under.

Caruana Squeezes Water From Stone On Board 2, 16-move Draw On Board 1

“I am not very proud of this recreation total. I imply, I acquired an enormous benefit out of the opening, it was near successful,” stated Caruana after defeating GM Etienne Bacrot on board two. “I had already given up hope, I used to be transferring backwards and forwards sooner or later as a result of I had no concepts.”

At in regards to the six-hour mark, on 50…Qc3 by his opponent, he stated: “This place is the place I began to really feel like possibly there’s some hope to win the sport,” despite the fact that the place was nonetheless equal. Simply as GM Robert Hess advised 52.Ng4!? within the Twitch chat, it appeared on the board.

In the meantime, on board one, Vidit vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura led to a draw by threefold repetition on transfer 16. In his recap, he says Vidit may have taken extra danger, however: “You’ll be able to attempt to be the hero generally, however should you mess up, particularly with the white items… you possibly can break a event in lower than 20 minutes.”

You’ll be able to break a event in lower than 20 minutes.

—Hikaru Nakamura

Deac Joins Lead After Transfer-41 Blunder, Sevian Upsets Firouzja

Blunders usually occur earlier than or on transfer 40, as gamers get low on time. Deac benefited from the rarer occasion of a blunder by Radoslaw Wojtaszek on transfer 41, the primary transfer after 50 minutes had been added. By grabbing a pawn, he traded his fort for a grape.

GM Sam Sevian‘s upset victory over GM Alireza Firouzja on board seven additionally has penalties for the Candidates Event. Nakamura, now 13 factors higher-rated than Firouzja, is at present eligible for the spot provided to the highest-rated participant who’s not already in.

The opening adopted a recreation performed yesterday, GM Alan Pichot vs. Abhimanyu Mishra, however the French number-one appeared to combine one thing up early on. He sacrificed a pawn for exercise, however when that ran out, Sevian declined a threefold repetition to play for the win. An important comeback for the U.S. participant after dropping spherical six with White in 23 strikes.

Sevian stated he did not thoughts the schedule change a lot, as he is used to last-minute modifications in open tournaments. He additionally stated that he loved the “stunning climate” in Douglas. “Stunning climate as a result of I like rain!”

The 4 leaders will play one another on Friday, with Caruana-Deac on board one and Vidit-Esipenko on board two. They’re adopted by eight gamers (!) only a half-point behind. Caruana and Vidit are getting the white items once more as a result of all 4 leaders already had the white items on this spherical.

Spherical 8 Standings | Prime 20 

(Full outcomes right here.)

Girls’s: Vaishali Performs Close to-Masterpiece, Prime Boards Finish In Attracts 

The three main gamers slowed down on this spherical with attracts on the highest two boards. There are 4 gamers a half-point behind, with one other seven chasing behind them.

Stefanova continued to play provocatively within the opening, this time enjoying the Jaenish/Schliemann Gambit with Black on board one. Though Anna Muzychuk had a bonus out of the opening, Black discovered a compelled repetition to kill the sport.

Vaishali’s recreation in opposition to IM Sophie Milliet was a transparent contender for the Recreation of the Day when she hammered out 18.Rxf7!!. In time bother, nevertheless, she misplaced management and the sport additionally led to a draw.

Of the gamers on 5.5 factors, GM Tan Zhongyi took down first-seed GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, who simply can not seem to get her mojo proper on this event. Fortuitously for the latter, she’s already within the Candidates Event whatever the consequence right here.

For these questioning why grandmasters simply can’t cease speaking in regards to the bishop pair, this can be a nice instance. On this recreation, Tan was objectively successful nearly instantly after successful the 2 bishops and 28.g5! broke down the enemy barricades. 

Within the subsequent spherical, Stefanova has White in opposition to Vaishali on board one, whereas Anna Muzychuk could have the black items in opposition to IM Leya Garifullina, the highest-rated participant with 5.5 factors. On board 5, Goryachkina could have a tricky pairing in opposition to an in-form IM Mai Narva who simply defeated GM Mariya Muzychuk and could also be searching for her fourth GM scalp on this occasion. 

Spherical 8 Standings | Prime 20 

Rk.	SNo	FED	Title	Title	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	12		IM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2448	6	2463
2	5		GM	Muzychuk, Anna	2510	6	2461
3	21		GM	Stefanova, Antoaneta	2424	6	2438
4	25		IM	Garifullina, Leya	2402	5.5	2469
5	30		IM	Milliet, Sophie	2391	5.5	2466
6	4		GM	Tan, Zhongyi	2517	5.5	2452
7	40		IM	Munguntuul, Batkhuyag	2366	5.5	2441
8	34		IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	2385	5	2479
9	27		IM	Narva, Mai	2399	5	2462
10	39		IM	Cori T., Deysi	2367	5	2460
11	10		IM	Assaubayeva, Bibisara	2469	5	2453
12	1		GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2558	5	2433
13	13		IM	Efroimski, Marsel	2447	5	2396
14	19		GM	Ushenina, Anna	2434	5	2382
15	42		IM	Guichard, Pauline	2358	4.5	2463
16	36		GM	Socko, Monika	2380	4.5	2437
17	22		IM	Bulmaga, Irina	2423	4.5	2419
18	14		GM	Cramling, Pia	2446	4.5	2398
19	6		IM	Shuvalova, Polina	2506	4.5	2389
20	15		IM	Mammadzada, Gunay	2441	4.5	2387

(Full outcomes right here.)

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The 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss (FGS) is without doubt one of the occasions of the FIDE World Championship cycle with the highest two gamers qualifying for the 2024 Candidates Event. The FGS began on October 25 at 9:30 a.m. ET/15:30 CEST/19:00 IST and contains a $460,000 prize fund.

The 2023 FIDE Girls’s Grand Swiss (FWGS) contains a $140,000 prize fund and runs concurrently. The highest two gamers qualify for the 2024 Girls’s Candidates Event.

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