Sunway Sitges Open R2: Korobov survives a scare
Top seed Anton Korobov survived a massive scare against IM Jesus Martin Duque. Eventually Korobov won from a completely lost position. Armenia no.4 Karen Grigoryan won the Blitz event with a score of 7.5/9. Untitled Souhardo Basak held former Women's world champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova to a draw. IM Leon Mendonca lost to WGM Laura Unuk. 22 players are in the lead with a 100% score at the completion of Round 2. Leon will face an untitled player and Souhardo will go against IM Christophe Sochacki in Round 3 starting tonight from 9 p.m. IST. Photo: Sunway Chess Open
Souhardo holds Stefanova to a draw
Untitled Souhardo Basak held former Women's world champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova to a draw. IM Leon Mendonca lost to WGM Laura Unuk. Top seed Anton Korobov survived a huge scare and won against IM Jesus Martin Duque from a completely lost position. GM Karen Grigoryan won the Blitz championships with a score of 7.5/9. Shubham Bandikatte held fourth seeded Alexander Domene Mulyukov to a draw.
Korobov makes a great escape
Korobov was on the brink of a loss as his king got into deep trouble against Jesus Martin Duque.
Martin - Korobov
27...Kh7 was uncalled for. Simply 27...gxh3 28.gxh3 Kh7 would have sufficed and black king would have stayed out of danger.
The king at h5 looks very much vulnerable. Find out the winning continuation for white after 35...Rxe2.
Exchange sacrifice done right
Untitled Souhardo Basak held former Women's World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova to a draw. He made an interesting exchange sacrifice to avoid making things worse but eventually he recovered it and got two minor pieces for a rook.
Stefanova - Souhardo
Although black has two pieces for a rook but still white can push for a win here. How?
Tables have turned and it is time for black to push for a win. Find out the correct continuation for black after 42.h4
Leon loses against Laura
Leon sacrificed a pawn in the middle game to gain some activity.
Leon - Laura
White is about to lose the d4 pawn after the exchange on e4, the only compensation white will have is some activity. Otherwise black would've launched a devastating attack with f5-f4.
White tried to make things interesting with 27.Neg5+ but it wasn't much as white's pieces are not ready to cause havoc, only queen and knight are not sufficient enough to deal a damage. The resultant rook vs double knight ending favored black who had no trouble converting it into a victory.
Photo Gallery
Replay Round 2 games
Round 2 results
Blitz Final Standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Grigoryan Karen H. | ARM | 2630 | 7,5 | 48,5 | 52,0 | 42,25 |
| 2 | 7 | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | ESP | 2553 | 7,0 | 46,5 | 50,5 | 38,00 |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Fier Alexandr | BRA | 2587 | 7,0 | 45,5 | 50,0 | 37,50 |
| 4 | 8 | IM | Dardha Daniel | BEL | 2468 | 6,5 | 50,0 | 52,5 | 36,25 |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo | CHI | 2576 | 6,5 | 44,0 | 48,0 | 32,75 |
| 6 | 4 | GM | Checa Nicolas | USA | 2579 | 6,0 | 49,0 | 53,0 | 31,50 |
| 7 | 10 | IM | Niemann Hans Moke | USA | 2364 | 6,0 | 47,5 | 50,5 | 30,50 |
| 8 | 12 | GM | Siebrecht Sebastian | GER | 2300 | 6,0 | 44,5 | 47,5 | 27,00 |
| 9 | 13 | FM | Exposito Amaro Josue | ESP | 2280 | 6,0 | 43,0 | 46,5 | 27,50 |
| 10 | 19 | FM | Garcia Gimenez Santiago | ESP | 2056 | 6,0 | 42,0 | 44,5 | 25,00 |
| 11 | 1 | GM | Korobov Anton | UKR | 2755 | 5,5 | 49,5 | 54,0 | 29,75 |
| 12 | 9 | GM | Cuenca Jimenez Jose Fernando | ESP | 2379 | 5,5 | 41,0 | 44,0 | 21,75 |
| 13 | 34 | Silva Pedro Gil Ferreira Da | POR | 1627 | 5,5 | 36,5 | 39,5 | 21,00 | |
| 14 | 6 | GM | Plat Vojtech | CZE | 2559 | 5,0 | 43,0 | 46,0 | 22,50 |
| 15 | 11 | IM | Valenzuela Gomez Fernando | CHI | 2319 | 5,0 | 40,0 | 41,5 | 20,00 |
Prizes
Total Prize fund - €27155. For the entire prize details, click here.
Schedule
13th - 22nd December - 9:00 p.m. IST
23rd December - 2:00 p.m. IST
