Magnus Carlsen has taken the sole lead in the Open with 8½ points out of a possible 10 after the second day of the World Rapid Chess championship in Moscow.
Close behind are three players – Wang Hao, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on 7½.
In the women’s competition, the Romanian Irina Bulmaga is having a great tournament as she continues her strong performance on the first day – leading the pack of top four players on 6½ out of a possible 8.
The second day of the men’s competition started with many a slew of draws in Round 6 with just three decisive outcomes in the top ten boards. As the day progressed draws continued to dominate the rounds, but important breakthroughs were also taking place in crucial matches.
At the end of the first day, Carlsen, the reigning world champion, mentioned that he was slowly getting into his game and that he hoped to peak on the second day.
That is exactly what happened, with two stiff draws in rounds Six and Seven (against Wang Hao and Aleksandr Rakhmanov), Carlsen compellingly beat Czech GM Viktor Laznicka in Round Eight.
This was the key moment as all the other top-boards drew in that round. In the ninth round Carlsen played against Alexander Zubov who achieved a significantly better position against the World Champion, but as luck would have it the Ukrainian missed several chances for a win and eventually lost.
In Round Ten Carlsen was determined not to let the momentum slip as he quickly and forcefully defeated Le Quang Liem, ending the second day with half a point ahead of everybody else. In Round, Eleven Carlsen will be playing against Vachier-Lagrave who is among the chasing pack.
After 10 rounds in the Open Rapid there are three players in the main competition looking capable of taking Carlsen down – Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao and Duda.
Among them, Wang Hao seems to be taking a more cautious approach – not objecting to fast draws with very strong players and looking for his chances against the slightly weaker ones.
The end of the second day of the Open Rapid in Moscow saw more strong players come up in the ranks after having slower starts on the first day, including the likes of Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler, Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Andreikin.
After eight rounds in the Women’s World Rapid, four players are sharing first place with Bulmaga leading the pack together with the Chinese duo of Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie, as well as and Mariya Muzychuk.
Bulmaga, who unlike some other players has not had much experience in top tournaments. But she is very well and has scored 2½ points on the second day, including a win against Humpy Koneru. Her preparation for this tournament, which was done together with Ekaterina Atalik, seems to be paying off.
The big surprise of the second day of the Women’s Rapid was delivered by Mariya Muzychuk, who won all four games – all against Russian players: In Round five Mariya Muzychuk defeated the young Russian prodigy Aleksandra Maltsevskaya; Alina Kashlinskaya fell in Round six; Daria Charochkina in Round seven and, finally, Natalia Pogonina, the runner-up of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2015.
The second day of Rapid was also good for Katerina Lagno, celebrating her 30th birthday. After a surprise loss in the Fourth Round on the first day, Lagno bounced backed winning three games in a row and ending the streak with a quick draw with Humpy Koneru in Round Eight. Lagno is now in seventh place, half a point behind the leaders.
Olga Girya, who was one of the three leaders after the first day with a maximum result, had a poor start on the second day, losing two games (to Koneru and Pogonina) and falling to the middle of the score-board. She managed to fight her way back to the upper ranks by defeating Alexandra Kosteniuk in Round Seven and Zhansaya Abdumalik in Round Eight. In Round Nine, she will be playing with black pieces against Katerina Lagno.
The tournament, however, was not what Alexandra Kosteniuk expected to be. The second-seeded player finished the second day of the Rapid with 4.5 points. Kosteniuk started day two with a defeat to Alisa Gaillamova. Her victory over Maria Manakova in the fifth round was a sign of things possibly repeating like on the first day when she started with a loss and then cleared three wins. This was not the case, however, Kosteniuk lost in Round Six to Olga Girya and then drew with Sofio Gvatadze in Round Eight.
TOP TEN MEN’S STANDINGS AFTER DAY TWO
TOP TEN WOMEN STANDINGS AFTER DAY TWO
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