After just two days of play, only three players have a maximum score at the Open Grand Swiss. In the Women’s event, two duos of Georgians and Chinese lead the group of altogether seven players with a maximum performance after the second round. 

Croatian player Ivan Saric cruised to the top of the scoreboard after winning in the second game in a row. Kirill Alekseenko’s choice of a rare line in the Marshall Attack backfired as Saric managed to neutralize  Black’s initiative and emerged with an extra pawn.  In an opposite-colour bishops were no help for the Russian as the Croatian promptly won a second pawn forcing Alekseenko’s resignation.  Ivan Saric will play Fabiano Caruana in Round 3. 

In a fantastic game on board eight, Alexandr Predke of Russia introduced an amazing novelty in the King's Indian Defence sacrificing his queen for two minor pieces a pawn against Nodirbek Yakubboev:

Alexandr Predke - Nodirbek Yakubboev

12.hxg4!! Bxd4 13.Bxd4 - White got sufficient positional compensation and even a certain edge but stunned Yakubboev failed to put up resistance and crumbled after 13...Kh7 14.Be2 f5? 15.exf5 gxf5 16.Rh5 +- | 1-0, 34 moves.

The Russian is on two points and he will be playing Alireza Firouzja who had some serious problems with Black against Dariusz Swiercz of the US at some point, but eventually his knights proved stronger than a rook and two connected passers of his opponent:

Alireza Firouzja - Dariusz Swiercz

58...Nxh2! was a killer blow as 59.Qxh2 fails to 59...Ng3+ 60. Kg1 Ne2+ 61.Kh1 Qxh2+ 62.Kxh2 Rh4# | 0-1, 61 moves

On board one 17-year-old Nihal Sarin managed to hold world number two Fabiano Caruana to a draw, despite later saying that he considered his own position to be “completely lost”. “I thought there was like 20% chance that I could save this game,” Sarin said.

After a draw in the first round, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave secured a speedy victory as White against Amin M. Tabatabaei, after the Iranian made a mistake in the opening. In an interview following the game Vachier-Lagrave said he feels in his element and is in high hopes for the rest of the tournament.

The last game to finish in the second round was that of Latvian Grandmaster Arturs Neiksans who played against England’s David Howell. In the Queen’s Indian Defence Neiksans made use of the opponent's flub (17.Nd4? instead of a natural 17.e3) and achieved an absolutely won position. For a long time Howell was teetering the brink of defeat but his grit and determination paid off in the end as the Englishman held his ground and, in the late hours of the evening, forced his opponent to concede to a draw.

In the Women’s event, Nana Dzagnidze demonstrated resourcefulness in an unbalanced position and defeated Iulija Osmak to maintain her lead in the tournament. 

On board two Alexandra Kosteniuk – dressed in a black and white squared dress – drew with Lela Javakhishvili, as did Polina Shuvalova against Olga Badelka.

The second top game to end with a decisive outcome was between Lei Tingjie and Ekaterina Atalik. The Chinese prevailed in what might be the wildest game in the women’s tournament with advantage changing hands several times, and now will be facing Elisabeth Paehtz in Round 3 after the German was victorious against Leya Garifullina.

Alongside Dzagnidze and Lei Tingjie, five more female players have a maximum score after the first two rounds.

Round 3

Round 3 starts at 2 PM on the 29th of October.

The pairings for Round 3 of the Open event can be found here:
https://grandswiss.fide.com/open/

The pairings for Round 3 of the Women’s event can be found here:
https://grandswiss.fide.com/grand-swiss-women/

For more information about the tournament, please visit:
https://grandswiss.fide.com/

Press enquiries: press@fide.com

Text: Milan Dinic

Photo: Mark Livshitz and Anna Shtourman