With one round to go, Michael Adams continues to be the sole leader at the London Chess Classic. Saturday’s round saw Adams holding Luke McShane to a draw with black, while chasers Gukesh and Amin Tabatabaei also split the point in their direct encounter. Two hard-fought encounters did finish decisively, though, as 14-year-old Shreyas Royal turned the tables in his game against Jules Moussard, and Andrei Volokitin got the better of the adventurous Matuesz Bartel. | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh
The fun continues in London. Round 7 of the 10-player round-robin featured two highly entertaining, decisive games. Mateusz Bartel, who has yet to draw a game in the event, never gave up in a losing-yet-tricky position and ended up beating Hans Niemann, while Amin Tabatabaei grabbed his fourth win of the tournament by defeating Nikita Vitiugov in a sharp tactical struggle. Michael Adams is still the sole leader. | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh
Michael Adams still has a half-point lead at the London Chess Classic after his round-6 opponent, Jules Moussard, blundered the game away from a winning position. Gukesh, Amin Tabatabaei and Andrei Volokitin also scored full points. In the longest game of the day, Nikita Vitiugov failed to make the most of a big advantage against underdog Shreyas Royal. With three rounds to go, Gukesh stands in sole second place. | Photo: John Upham
Three decisive results in round 2 of the London Chess Classic left three players tied for first place with 1½ points each. Andrei Volokitin joined round-1 winners Dommaraju Gukesh and Michael Adams in the lead of the event after beating underdog Shreyas Royal with the white pieces. Meanwhile, Mateusz Bartel and Amin Tabatabaei bounced back from their losses on Friday and returned to a fifty-percent score. Gukesh barely escaped with a draw in his game against Nikita Vitiugov. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram
The round-7 clash of co-leaders between England and Germany ended drawn in the open section of the European Team Championship, which allowed Serbia to join them in the lead thanks to a 2½-1½ victory over Romania Alexey Sarana beat Bogdan-Daniel Deac in the one decisive game of the match. Meanwhile, Bulgaria grabbed the sole lead in the women’s section, as they inflicted France’s first loss of the event. | Pictured: Serbia’s Alexandr Predke | Photo: Mark Livshitz