Going into the rest day, the Women’s Grand Swiss has a sole leader in Anna Muzychuk, who defeated Bibisara Assaubayeva with the white pieces on Monday. In the open, eight players are sharing the lead with 4½/6 points each, as Fabiano Caruana, Vidit Gujrathi, Javokhir Sindarov, Alexandr Predke and Radoslaw Wojtaszek grabbed full points to join the leading pack. | 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
As expected, hard-fought, exciting games were the norm on the opening day at the Grand Swiss tournaments on the Isle of Man. In the open, 32 players started with wins, including top seed Fabiano Caruana, Richard Rapport (pictured) and Levon Aronian. In the women’s event, meanwhile, 15 participants scored full points, with none of the top three seeds getting more than a draw. | Photo: Anna Shtourman