Round 5 of the FIDE Grand Swiss saw Hikaru Nakamura and Arjun Erigaisi grabbing wins to join Andrey Esipenko in the lead of the open section. Nakamura obtained his third consecutive win after starting the event with two draws. The large chasing pack, now consisting of 16 players, now includes round-5 winners Sam Shankland, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Tan Zhongyi to become the first sole leader of the event. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
A sole leader emerged for the first time in the open section of the Grand Swiss, as Andrey Esipenko beat Marc’Andria Maurizzi to become the only player to reach a 3½/4 score. A 17-player chasing pack stands a half point behind, with Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja and Hans Niemann among those who joined this group by winning on Saturday. In the women’s section, Anna Muzychuk could not convert her advantage in the co-leaders’ clash with Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
There are no more perfect scores in the open section of the Grand Swiss, as all seven co-leaders drew their games in round 3, allowing a trio of youngsters to join the lead i.e. Sam Sevian (pictured), Marc’Andria Maurizzi and Javokhir Sindarov. In the women’s section, on the other hand, two players did win their three first games to keep perfect scores after Friday’s round: Tan Zhongyi, who beat Antoaneta Stefanova, and Anna Muzychuk, who got the better of Irina Bulmaga. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
After two rounds, seven players still have perfect scores in the open section of the FIDE Grand Swiss. Joining elite players Fabiano Caruana (pictured) and Arjun Erigaisi in the lead, among others, is IM Ramazan Zhalmakhanov from Kazakhstan, who stunned Bassem Amin on Thursday. In the women’s section, five players are sharing first place on 2/2. Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk are the highest-rated in this group, while, similarly to the open, a Kazakh representative gave the biggest surprise, as Meruert Kamalidenova beat Valentina Gunina to enter round 3 as one of the co-leaders. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
More than 200 Russian athletes have turned their backs on their homeland and left the country following Russia's attack on Ukraine. 150 of them are chess players. The Russian Chess Federation now wants to retain its talent through long-term financial support. In the summer, it signed a ten-year contract with Andrey Esipenko (pictured). | Photo: Niki Riga