Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS 2686) defeated Igor Kovalenko (LAT 2644) in the top encounter of the 9th round and remained the leader of the European Individual Chess Championship 2016. Inarkiev now leads by a full point, with rating performance of 2967 points!
The remaining top games were drawn, which suggested that as the tournament reaches the end the level of tension increases. Steaks are high and the players will try to focus on the final two rounds.
Standings after 9 rounds:
1 Inarkiev 8
2-3 Wojtaszek and Goganov 7
4-13 Navara, Jobava, Vallejo, Fressinet, Kovalenko, Hovhannisyan, Anton, Dubov, Piorun and Pashikian 6.5, etc.
The 10th round is scheduled for today from 3.30 pm (local time) with the following top pairings:
Inarkiev vs Goganov, Wojtaszek vs Vallejo, Dubov vs Navara, Kovalenko vs Fressinet, Hovhannisyan vs Piorun, Pashikian vs Jobava, Ragger vs Anton, etc.
Photos by Chief Arbiter IA Tomasz Delega